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Class X^ftOft 

Book ,W( > 

Copyright^ 

COPYRIGHT DEPOSFT. 



HOW TO MAKE POTTERY 



OTHER BOOKS BY 

MARY WHITE 

HOW TO DO BEADWORK 
HOW TO MAKE BASKETS 
MORE BASKETS AND HOW TO MAKE THEM 







NEWCOMB POTTERY JUG 



How to Make Pottery 



By 

MARY WHITE 



Illustrated by the Author 




NEW YORK 

DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY 

1904 



30 1S04 
Oooyrtfht Eiwrv 



<* 



COPYRIGHT, 1904, BY nA^ 
DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY 
PUBLISHED, OCTOBER, I904 



a,VM 



Acknowledgment is hereby made to the Bureau 
of American Ethnology for permitting the use of 
the illustrations reproduced in Chapter XI. 



{Co $$$ ^tt^banti 



PREFACE 

An art like pottery -making, which is nearly as 
old as the human race, is naturally approached 
with some degree of reverence. One thinks of its 
old masters in various lands and ages — how they 
were content to spend a lifetime in the study 
and practice of it. 

There is, however, another thought that comes 
to mind — that this art, like every other, had to 
have its beginning. Moreover, every potter, from 
the primitive man who first realised that clay 
which held water could be moulded into portable 
vessels for a like purpose, to the artist potter of 
to-day, has learned the first steps of the craft. 

It was this thought that encouraged me to 
study the beginnings of pottery, and that leads 
me to offer this book to those who would also 
start clay-working, with no other qualification 
than the wish to learn how to make pottery. 



CONTENTS 



I. The Clays and Tools 

II. Hand-made Pottery . 

III. Working on the Wheel 

IV. Methods of Decoration 

V. The Glaze and How to Apply 

VI. Pottery for Beauty and Use 

VII. How to Make a Plaster Mould 

VIII. The Making of a Tile 

IX. The Kiln .... 

X. Basket-Covered Pottery 

XI. Indian Pottery . 

XII. Modern American Pottery 



PAGE 

3 
15 

27 

4i 

55 

67 

9i 

103 

113 

125 

149 

167 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

NeWCOmb Pottery Jug Frontispiece 



FACING PAGE 



Building a Piece of Pottery: 

I. Making the First Coil. 2. Testing the 
Outline. 3. Continuing the Piece . . \%y 
Working on the Wheel: 

1. A pale-green bowl for flowers. 2. A cream- 
jug. 3. A flower-jar with two handles. 4. A 

nasturtium bowl 38 

Methods of Decoration: 

1. A large fruit-bowl. 2 and 3. Low dishes 
for candy. 4. A lamp-bowl . . . 38 ' 

Where Use and Beauty are Combined ... 68 
Pottery for Beauty and Use: 

1. Rose-bowl. 2. A low Dutch dish. 3. Fruit- 
bowl 80 

How to Make a Plaster Mould: 

1. A plaster mould. 2. A rose-bowl . .80 

Pottery for Beauty and Use: 

1. Lamp-bowl. 2. Candlestick. 3. Wall-jar 

for water-plants. 4. A flower candlestick . 80 - 

The Making of a Tile 108 

Basket-covered Pottery 126 ' 

Indian Pottery 156 

Indian Pottery 162 

Teco Ware 172 

Some Pieces of Volkmar Pottery . . . .176 
A Piece of Newcomb Pottery 178 ' 



LIST OF FIGURES 

igurbs Page 

I 10 

2 10 

3 I0 

4 . io 

5 I0 

6 ii 

7 , . . ii 

8 12 

9 17 

io 27 

11 29 

12 33 

13 33 

14 34 

15 35 

16 35 

x 7 39 

18 39 

x 9 .... 39 

20 45 

21 46 

22 49 

23 49 

24 50 

25 70 

26 72 

XV 



LIST OF "FIGURES— Continued 

Figures Page 

27 73 

28 77 

29 79 

30 ........ 80 

31 - 8 4 

32 8 4 

33 94 

34 96 

35 99 

36 104 

37 I0 4 

38 . . . .106 

39 Io6 

40 107 

4i 107 

42 109 

43 109 

44 115 

45 "6 

46 120 

47 • • -127 

48 133 

49 138 

50 Hi 

5i , . 142 

52 144 

53 150 

54 .......... 150 

55 151 

56 151 

57 152 

58 153 

xvi 



LIST OF FIGURES- Continued 

Figures Page 

59 154 

60 155 

61 156 

62 157 

63 160 

64 161 

65 162 

66 171 

67 171 

68 179 



XVll 



The Clays and Tools 



HOW TO MAKE POTTERY 

CHAPTER I 

THE CLAYS AND TOOLS 

/^LAY is what might be called the drift of the 
^^ rocks of ages past. Most stone consists 
mainly of silica and alumina. In some bygone 
age, the potash and other alkalies, under the action 
of heat, fused these materials into rock. Potash is 
affected by the atmosphere, so it gradually left the 
rock, which decomposed, and the many particles, 
the fine refuse, after various changes became clay. 
Perfectly pure clay, or hydrated silicate of alumina, 
is found where some granites and other felspar- 
bearing rocks have decomposed. In the course 
of years, the clays, especially those on the surface, 
gathered impurities. Black clay, for example, 
which is found at the top of the bed, contains a 
large per cent, of carbon, formed by decayed leaves 
and twigs — like coal or peat. Strange to say, this 
burns whiter than any other pottery clay. It 

3 



4 How to Make Pottery 

contains more potash than the other clays, and 
fires at a lower heat. The different proportions 
in which certain minerals are found in clays de- 
termine their plastic or non-plastic, fusible or 
refractory character. Potters have not been able 
to agree as to the reason for the plasticity of clay. 
Some believe that the silica gives it plasticity; 
others that it is due to the water inherent in the 
clay (which is called the water of combination), 
and give as their reason for the belief the fact that 
burned clay loses its plasticity, never to get it 
again. Yet water alone does not make every 
clay plastic: other ingredients are sometimes 
necessary. The early potter used the clay just as it 
came from the ground, but when he began to bake 
it in the fire he found that tempering materials 
were necessary. Sand was often added to make 
it easier to handle, and coarse, sharp pieces of shell 
or rock helped to prevent the clay from cracking, 
by lessening the shrinkage. 

Later, as the art advanced, the value of certain 
materials in regulating the fusible and refractory 
qualities of the natural clay were recognised. 
There is in clays the play of melting and non- 
melting substances. Flint and alumina are hard, 
and uphold the clay in the fierce fire of the kiln; 



The Clays and Tools 5 

potash and soda make it soft and fusible. It is 
believed that the value of ground flint in pottery- 
was not discovered until late in the seventeenth 
century. The story is that a certain potter 
travelling on horseback was delayed on account 
of an inflammation of his horse's eyes. An 
ostler, wishing to help him out of his difficulty, took 
a flint from the road, and, after putting it in the 
fire until it was red-hot, threw it into cold water. 
It broke into pieces, pure white, which were 
easily powdered and applied to the animal's eyes. 
Delighted as the potter was with the cure of his 
horse, the discovery of a white, infusible material 
for his pottery pleased him still more. 

The combination of iron and lime in a clay 
forms a natural flux. For example: Fire-clay, 
which is quite refractory but which contains a 
small per cent, of iron, will, by the addition of a 
proportion of whiting (lime), become more fusible. 
Iron and lime in larger quantities are found in the 
clay which is made into red ware — flower-pots, 
red bricks, and other common articles. The 
large per cent, of iron gives it its red colour. It 
does not make as strong a ware as other clays. 
This red ware, which fires at the lowest heat, we 
will classify as Group I. To Group II. belongs the 



6 How to Make Pottery 

yellow or Rockingham ware. This fires at a light- 
orange heat, from 1,800 to 2,000 degrees Fahren- 
heit. It is often finished with a dark-brown glaze. 
Mixing-bowls and other kitchen ware come under 
this group. Group III. contains the buff or cream 
ware, usually made of fire-clays. This hardens at 
an intense heat, from 2,200 to 2,500 degrees 
Fahrenheit. In this group is the fine pottery. 
Art pottery comes under this head. Group IV. is 
the buff or cream ware, fired at white heat and 
beyond. This is the stoneware. On account of 
the great heat at which it is fired, it is possible to 
use only certain colours in the glazes. They are 
limited to gray, brown, green and blue. Ox-blood 
has been obtained in this ware, but it is uncertain. 
Claret- and vinegar- jugs and butter- crocks come 
in this group. Group V. is the white or tableware, 
and Group VI. the translucent ware or porcelain, 
made of kaolin, the purest grade of clay. Felspar 
makes it meltable and translucent, and, to give it 
plasticity, a small proportion of ball or fire-clay is 
added. 

Pottery clay differs from modelling clay in that 
it has more stiffening, so to speak. It is not so 
plastic, but, on the other hand, it will stand the 
heat of the kiln, which the other will not. The 



The Clays and Tools 7 

addition of whiting or felspar to modelling clay will 
give the needed stiffness. A pottery clay suitable 
for the work one can produce in one's kiln must 
be so arranged as to harden at the degree of heat 
at which the kiln fires. Practically, we shall have 
little to do with any but the blue or ball clay and 
fire-clay. These are the best for pottery which is 
to be beautiful as well as useful. It is possible, of 
course, to use the flower-pot clay, and, perhaps, if 
one can easily obtain this clay, and is near enough 
to a pottery where the red ware is fired — so that 
one's pieces can conveniently be sent there — it 
might be wiser to use it than to buy finer clays 
that come from a great distance, and then be 
obliged to send one's pottery to a far-away kiln 
for firing. 

The flower-pot ware is not strong, however, 
and fine glazes cannot be used upon it, so that, if 
possible, clay that will fire at a greater heat 
should be chosen. A mixture of fire-clay and 
ball or blue clay will give good results, and the 
pieces made with it may be sent to the nearest art 
pottery or to a kiln where stoneware is fired. 
Having once found a good clay, potters rarely 
change. In fact, this feeling is so strong with 
some that it amounts almost to a superstition. A 



8 How to Make Pottery 

potter who has obtained a clay that is satisfactory 
in a certain State will always send to the same 
State and bed for that clay, no matter how far 
he may be from it, nor how nearly the clay in his 
own State may come to the analysis of that which 
he has used. 

The clay is, of course, brought from the clay 
beds in caked masses. It should be kept out of 
doors, for the wind and weather are good for it. In 
preparing it, the great lumps are pounded up fine 
and put through a sieve in which there are thirty 
to forty meshes to the inch. It is now ready for 
soaking. A common mistake is to pour water 
upon the clay in its rock state and then employ a 
boy or spend one's own time kneading it into 
condition. The more simple and practical process 
is to sift it as already described, and then add the 
powdered clay to the water. In this way, each 
particle is wet at once, and in much less time the 
clay is ready for use. If it proves that too much 
water has been provided, pour off some after the 
clay is well mixed, and, if it is still too moist, spread 
it upon plaster slabs in the air ; which will soon dry 
it sufficiently — the plaster itself absorbing much 
of the surplus moisture. 

It is often possible, at slight expense, to obtain 



The Clays and Tools g 

the clay already sieved and mixed from a pottery, 
and this is, of course, an advantage. 

Keep your clay in a large earthern crock in 
which a little water has first been poured. Make 
deep holes with the thumb and pour water into 
them. Cover with a damp cloth and then with 
the earthen top. When the clay dries out so 
much that it is difficult to mould, let it dry thor- 
oughly and pound it to a powder on a strong 
bench or table with an old flat-iron. It may then 
be re-mixed, as already described. 

When ready to begin work, take a good-sized 
lump of clay, say about ten pounds; pound and 
knead it upon a table. Then draw a strong wire 
through it at the middle, dividing it in halves. 
Press the two outer surfaces together, kneading 
out the air-holes, which will be found on the inner 
surfaces. This process repeated a number of times 
will finally expel all the air-bubbles and leave 
the clay in good condition for moulding. Clay 
that is to be used on the wheel will need to be 
much more thoroughly kneaded than that for 
hand-moulded or built pottery. 
Tools 

Boxwood modelling tools are useful for the 
hand-moulded pottery and for decoration. One 



10 



How to Make Pottery 



Fig. 



Fig. 2 

1 
Fig. 3 

Fig. 4 

pointed tool, like a sharpened pencil (see Fig. i), 
and another double-ended one, with points that 
are more flattened and rounded (see Fig. 2), will 
be enough to start with. One should also have a 




Fig. 5 



The Clays and Tools 



ii 



double-ended steel tool with pointed knife-ends 
(see Fig. 3), for incising and other decorative 




Fig. 6 



work. A steel tool with narrow, flattened ends 
(see Fig. 4) is necessary for cutting away the 
background to leave the design in low relief. 




The tools for use with the potter's wheel are 
mostly of thin steel, and may easily be cut from a 



12 How to Make Pottery 

sheet of steel which one can buy of a dealer in 
hardware. There should be an oval shape, two 
and a quarter by four inches, and another of the 
same size and shape with the edges cut in saw-teeth 
(see Fig. 5). There should also be a tool with 
one straight side and the other curved (see Fig. 6), 
and a rectangular one about two by four inches. 
A hoe-shaped tool of steel (see Fig. 7) is indis- 
pensable for working on the wheel, as is a slender 
point of steel, an inch and a quarter long, set in a 



Fig. 8 

wooden handle (see Fig. 8), and a piece of stout 
wire. A rubber polisher, the size and shape of 
the oval tool of sheet steel, will also be found 
useful. These may be bought of dealers in potters' 
tools. A sponge, a ground-glass slab about a foot 
square, a rolling-pin, and sandpaper are also 
essential. 

Round and square slabs of plaster of paris 
should be provided upon which to put the pieces of 
pottery while they are being formed. These may 
be bought or cast in moulds, according to the direc- 
tions in Chapter VII. 



Hand -made Pottery 



CHAPTER II 



HAND-MADE POTTERY 



It is quite important that the potter should 
have a workshop — be it ever so small — which 
clay-dust and water will not harm. A light, dry- 
cellar is a good place, or an outbuilding, if one 
lives in the country. The sense of freedom which 
comes from working in this way is a help in ac- 
complishing good results. Protected by a long- 
sleeved apron and in such a place, one need not 
have a care for clothes or carpets. A stout old 
table, one or two chairs, and possibly a shelf, upon 
which to put the finished pottery — with these, 
and the potter's wheel and bench (see Chapter III.), 
one will be well equipped. This is taking for 
granted that one has been able to buy one's clay 
ready mixed. Otherwise there must be a tub for 
mixing the clay, and a sieve (see Chapter I.). In 
addition to the clay and the tools already mentioned 
in Chapter I., a pitcher of water will be needed, 
and a bowl for the "slip," or clay thinned with 

J 5 



1 6 How to Make Pottery 

water to the consistency of very thick cream. The 
potter is now ready for work. 

Small pieces of pottery, such as dishes and 
candlesticks, may be moulded with the hands 
from a single piece of clay (see Chapter VI.); but, 
for larger pieces, the strong and simple Indian 
process of building up with coils of clay is more 
satisfactory. This may be done in a variety of 
ways. Either the piece is formed by coiling the 
strips of clay within a mould, as described in 
Chapters VI. and VII., or by building it up by eye, 
assisted by a cardboard outline (see plate), or it 
may be formed entirely by eye, like the rose -bowl 
with a moth design in Chapter VI. The first 
method, while it is the simplest, is not the best to 
begin with, for one relies too much upon the 
mould, and unconsciously uses it too often, instead 
of training one's eye to make a true and beautiful 
form. The second method — testing the form 
with a pasteboard outline as the piece is built — 
will be the best to start with. Having decided 
upon the shape he wishes to make, the potter 
draws it in outline (natural size) upon a piece of 
cardboard. It will be wise to choose a form as 
nearly like a cylinder as possible; for example, a 
jar for flowers. The outline sketch is divided by 



Hand-made Pottery 17 

a vertical line ruled exactly through its centre. 
Another straight line, parallel with the first, is 
drawn three inches to the right of it. The outline 
is then cut out (see Fig. 9) so as to make a guide 
for the contour of the jar. A 
flat, round piece of clay, about 
five inches in diameter and 
half an inch thick, is now 
moulded and placed in the 
centre of a plaster tile. In 
the middle of this piece, a 
circle, two and three-quarters 
inches in diameter, is drawn 
with a tool. A lump of clay, 
which has been well worked to 
get out all air-holes, is rolled 
on the table with the palms of 
the hands (near the base of 
the thumb) lightly, yet with 
sufficient push to make the 
clay revolve wholly each time. 
If the roll flattens from too p IG . g 

hard pressure, pat it into 
circular form, and continue to roll it until 
it is of even thickness — about an inch in diam- 
eter. It is then flattened evenly, one end is 




1 8 How to Make Pottery 

cut into a long point, and the coil is started on 
edge, narrow side up, on the circle drawn upon 
the clay bottom, which has previously had 
lines criss-crossed upon it back and forth with 
a steel tool, to insure the first coil's clinging to 
it. To make this even more certain, a touch of 
slip is brushed lightly here and there over the 
edge of the circle. While the thumb and middle 
finger, on either side of the coil, support it, the fore- 
finger presses it down firmly on to the bottom all 
the way around (see plate). It is so much easier 
to flare the walls of one's piece than to make 
them straight, or bring them in, that they should 
be kept as nearly vertical as possible, especially 
in starting. When the circuit has been made, cut 
the » end of the clay strip into a long, flat point 
which will fit evenly in with the one at the beginning 
of the coil, and press the edges together with the 
flat of the nail of finger or thumb. Tl:::- is also 
done where the edges of the coil come against the 
bottom, outside and in. Quick, firm, yet short 
strokes of the nail up and down join the edges. 
In putting on the second row, no marking with the 
tool is necessary — only to brush it with slip. After 
the second row is added, the jar is put out in the 
air for half an Lour or so, until it has stiriened a 





BUILDING A PIECE OF POTTERY 
i. Making the First Coil 
2 Testing the Outline 
3. Continuing the Piece 



Hand-made Pottery 19 

little. This is supposing that the potter is working 
at a time when the clay will not freeze. When the 
weather is cold, the piece must be left to stiffen in- 
doors, as pottery that has once frozen is useless. 
The inside of the bottom and walls are then 
smoothed with great care, for, as it is to be a tall 
jar, this must be done before the walls get too high. 
Two more rows of coiling are now added as before, 
testing the shape by pressing the cardboard outline 
close against it all around the circumference. 
After this, the jar is again put out in the air for 
half an hour or so. This method is continued until 
the jar is built up. 

Should the walls become weak and insecure 
from working them too rapidly, let them dry for a 
longer time, several hours or over night, before 
finishing. Test the shape constantly with the 
cardboard outline. When the jar is as high as the 
drawing, or even a quarter to half an inch higher, 
let it dry over night. It should then be smoothed 
with an oval steel tool, which has a saw-toothed 
edge (see Fig. 5), to take the worst unevenness off. 
The tool is bent to fit the shape of the jar and held 
at right angles with it, smoothing it with short 
strokes in different directions. This is done 
inside and out. The hollows are also filled in. 



20 How to Make Pottery 

To do this, wet the spot first with slip and fill in 
with clay as nearly the consistency of that in 
the jar as possible. The sides are then made 
perfectly even with the oval tool with smooth 
edges, holding it as the saw-toothed tool was held. 
When there are no hollows or ridges and the walls 
are about a quarter of an inch thick, the surface of 
the jar is smoothed with a damp sponge and 
polished with the fingers and thumb inside and 
out, taking care in handling it not to hold it by 
the edge, but rest it in the hollowed hand. Should 
it have become very dry, as it will in a compara- 
tively short time in warm weather, so that it is 
light-gray in colour, it will be wise to smooth it with 
sandpaper instead of with the sponge, as in this 
state even a little water may cause it to crack. 
One cannot learn too soon, or have too often im- 
pressed upon one's mind, the risk of adding wet 
clay to a piece of pottery that is much drier. The 
natural shrinkage which has already taken place 
in the dry clay will be repeated in the wet, and, as it 
shrinks, it will crack the drier clay. Cracks in 
clay are of two kinds — those caused by shrinkage 
of the unbaked or green clay, and those that come 
from cooling too rapidly in the biscuit or baked 
clay. The former can usually be mended satis- 



Hand-made Pottery 21 

factorily, but for the latter there is no remedy; 
the piece is spoiled. 

To mend a crack in clay that is only partially 
dry, put a little slip into the crack and then 
work in, with a modelling tool, clay of the con- 
sistency of the piece. If, after drying longer, the 
piece cracks again — a long, deep crack, that goes 
through to the inside — there is no way to mend it 
except by cutting the clay out on either side for 
quite a space beyond the crack, brushing both sides 
with slip, and filling in with clay as nearly as 
possible the consistency of the piece. This is 
pressed in in small bits, little by little, until the 
gap is filled. If it should crack again in small, 
short places, fill them with dry, powdered clay, 
pressed in and moulded with a steel tool. 

In case of the piece cracking when it is bone dry — 
that is, after it has dried for several days and is 
pale-gray in colour — grind some pieces of baked 
clay to a fine powder, add enough water to make 
a soft, yellow paste, and fill the cracks with it. 

The edge of the jar is cut as even as possible 
with a tool, and then made perfectly true by the 
following method: A little water is poured on a 
ground-glass slab, and the jar, held bottom up, is 
moved firmly but rapidly round and round on the 



22 How to Make Pottery 

wet surface, and then quickly taken up (by- 
sliding it off at the edge of the slab) before it 
clings to the glass. The bottom must now be 
finished. The jar is first placed bottom up on a 
slab or table, then a circle is drawn with a pencil 
at about half an inch from the edge of the bottom. 
This is outlined with the pointed steel tool, and the 
bottom within the circle is evenly and carefully 
cut out with strokes of the oval, smooth-edged 
tool, so that the outside ring shall form a ridge not 
over one-sixteenth of an inch above the depressed 
interior of the circle. The potter now cuts his 
initial or mark, which is made in as simple lines as 
possible, into the bottom with firm, deep strokes. 
If the jar is not very dry, a wooden modelling tool 
may be used for this. Otherwise, the pointed steel 
tool is chosen. Care should be taken not to cut 
under the edge in making these incised lines. 
The edges should instead be bevelled, so that, when 
the glaze is put on, it will flow more freely over 
them. 

If possible, this jar, being large, should be 
fired in the biscuit — that is, before it is glazed, and 
then again after it has been glazed ; unless one is 
obliged to send it a long distance to be fired, so 
that more than one firing is impracticable, in 



Hand-made Pottery 23 

which case it must, of course, be glazed on the un- 
baked clay. 

A pale green glaze (see directions in Chapter V.) 
will complete it. 

In packing to send pieces to a far-off kiln by- 
express, use a wooden box, and, after lining it 
with newspaper, wrap the pieces in soft paper, 
and pack them carefully in sawdust. 



Working on the Wheel 



CHAPTER III 



WORKING ON THE WHEEL 



That the primitive potter did not mould his pot- 
tery on a wheel we can be reasonably sure. The 
Egyptians, however, as early as 4000 B. C, used 
the simplest potter's wheel, 
as is proved by fragments 
of pottery still in existence. 
This wheel was a small, 
round table revolving on 
a pivot (see Fig. 10). The 
potter set it in motion with 
his hand, and from time to 
time gave it a spin to keep 
it revolving. The same 
wheel is used to this day 
in many parts of India. An improvement on this 
simple contrivance was made in Egypt under the 
Ptolemies. A larger circular table was fixed lower 
down on the same axis. This the potter set and 
kept in motion with his foot, leaving his hands 

27 




Frvm Encyclopedia Britannicct 

Fig. 10 



28 How to Make Pottery 

free at all times to mould the clay, while the wheel 
was kept at a regular speed. 

What is technically known as "throwing" or 
moulding pottery on the wheel is a process that is 
not learned in a moment, or even in a day. It 
takes time and patience, but it is certainly one of 
the most fascinating parts of the craft. One would 
have lost half of the charm of pottery -making who 
had not felt the plastic clay, on the potter's wheel, 
rise and fall between his hands, almost as if endowed 
with life! 

The rapidity with which pieces can be formed on 
the wheel is an advantage over other processes, 
while the regularity of shape, refinement and per- 
fection of finish give wheel-made pottery a beauty 
all its own. Until lately, few women potters have 
worked on the wheel, because the ordinary form of 
potter's wheel, which was turned with one foot, the 
potter standing on the other, made the work too 
difficult and laborious for a woman to attempt. 
Now, however, a wheel copied from an old French 
model is in use which enables the potter to sit while 
at work. This is the wheel shown in Fig. n. It 
is obtainable from makers of potters' tools. The 
cost of such a wheel, with an iron top and shaft, 
and wooden fly-wheel made of three thicknesses of 



Working on the Wheel 



29 



boards, is eighteen dollars, but second-hand wheels 
can sometimes be bought for much less. When the 
wheel is set up, the shaft box (a square box below 
the upper wheel) is fastened to the edge of a strong 
table or shelf, which has been placed in a good light. 
A seat which slants 
forward, not unlike a 
reading-desk in form, 
is made of wood (see 
Fig. 11), and set up 
near enough to the 
wheel for a person sit- 
ting on it to reach the 
wheel comfortably. 
It is braced by a 
board on either side 
extending diagonally 
forward, from the leg of the seat to the floor, and by 
a board fastened on the right of the top of the seat 
and reaching to the table. Under the table a foot- 
rest, roughly made of boards, is needed. 

At first, it will be wise to learn how to set the 
wheel in motion. Suppose we practice this a few 
times before beginning to mould. When one is 
seated on the inclined bench, the left foot on the 
rest, the right foot starting just below the body, 




Fig. 11 



30 How to Make Pottery 

near the outer edge of the wheel, swings the fly- 
wheel from right to left. The point of the foot is 
used for this. Four or five vigorous turns are given, 
and then the foot, swinging nearer the iron shaft, 
gives five or six more pushes to the flywheel, and is 
placed on the foot-rest. Expert potters can turn 
with the foot while the hands are busy moulding, 
but we who are beginners will do wisely to start 
the wheel revolving, then, keeping both feet on the 
rest, give all our attention to the hand- work, until 
the slower revolutions warn us that it is time to 
give the wheel another start. One caution should 
be given, and it may not be out of place here : Do 
not work too long a time at the wheel. Half or 
three-quarters of an hour's steady work at a time 
will be enough. After that, leave it for half an hour 
and you will not get physically or nervously tired ; 
besides, the work will go much better. Have your 
tools and a bowl of thin slip within easy reach as 
you sit at the wheel. 

In beginning your piece, a lump of clay, say 
about two pounds, well worked, is made into a 
ball. Wet the top of the wheel, then rub it off so 
as to leave the wheel just moist enough for the clay 
to stick, but not slippery, so that it will slide. The 
lump of clay, held in both hands, is then thrown 



Working on the Wheel 31 

firmly on to the centre of the wheel. The bottom 
of the lump should be well down on the wheel, and 
it is most important to have it exactly in the centre. 
The hands are wet with slip, which is also rubbed 
over the lump of clay with both hands so that it is 
thoroughly moist. 

The wheel is now set in motion as already de- 
scribed, and when it is well started, and both feet 
are up on the rest, the hands held one on either 
side of the clay starting close to the wheel, move 
slowly up the sides of the lump, drawing it up into 
a cone shape. The elbows should be well braced 
against the sides of the body, so as to hold the hands 
absolutely steady, for they should never waver or 
swing with the wheel, but hold true and firm. If 
the mass is not exactly in the centre of the wheel, 
or the cone shape is not even, the hands are again 
wet with slip, a few drops of which are shaken on 
to the clay. The thumbs are laid together, and 
the hands at the bases of the thumbs are pressed 
firmly down on the clay (as the wheel turns) , press- 
ing it again into mound shape. The hands and 
clay are wet once more, and the wheel started. 
The clay is now pressed up again into the cone 
form, taking great care to have the pressure even 
and slow. The hands should move, after each revo- 



32 How to Make Pottery 

lution, not more than a quarter of an inch. When a 
good cone shape is made exactly in the middle of 
the wheel, the piece is "centred." In order to 
prove that the cone is absolutely in the centre, set 
the wheel going, brace the arms against the body, 
and, steadying the right hand with the left, move the 
forefinger of the right closer and closer to the cone, 
until it all but touches it. If the figure hits in 
any one place, that will prove that the cone is not 
centred, and it must be pressed again into mound 
shape as already described, but if it just clears it all 
the way round, the potter proceeds to the next step. 
The thumbs, held close together above the clay, 
are aimed at the exact centre of it, and their ends 
pressed firmly but lightly in, while the wheel 
revolves once or twice. This is to mark the centre. 
The next step is to hollow out the piece. This is 
also done with the thumbs. The hands and clay 
being wet with slip, and the wheel started well, the 
fingers inclose the outer walls of the piece, while 
the thumbs are pressed into the centre of the clay 
firmly and decidedly down to within less than half 
an inch from the bottom. This is something that 
the potter learns to know almost by instinct — how 
close he can come to the top of the wheel and yet 
leave a bottom thick enough to trim and finish. 



Working on the Wheel 



33 




Fig. 12 



A form as nearly cylindrical as possible will be 
the simplest to begin with. Suppose one wishes to 
make a jar of the shape 
shown in Fig. 12. The 
next step is to make the 
walls of equal thickness, 
hollowing the bottom 
more. To do this, the 
elbows are braced 
against the sides, and 
the fingers placed in the 
position shown in Fig. 
13. This is one of the ways in which the hands 
are made to support each other and work in unison. 

The different placings 
of the hands, to ac- 
complish various results, 
are known as potter's 
grips. In this one, the 
right hand, which re- 
mains outside the piece 
(lying close against it), 
supports the left by the 
G " I3 thumb which rests 

against it, the forefinger of the right hand hav- 
ing previously been coiled around its thumb (see 




34 



How to Make Pottery 



Fig. 13). The middle finger of the left hand lies 
against the wall of the piece inside. The piece is 
thus supported outside and in by a hand. 

Starting at the bottom, as the wheel turns, the 
hands, held steady and firm, rise slowly with each 
revolution of the wheel. The right presses more 
than the left, hollowing the bottom and walls of the 
piece. Slowly, slowly, the hands rise, until the top 
is reached. If the shape is not quite true, the 




Fig. 14 



hands start in the same position at the bottom and 
again go up, pressing hardest when pressure is 
needed, and going lightly where it is not necessary 
to alter the shape. Another position of the hands 
(see Fig. 14) may be used to press the clay into a 
narrower form. This must be done with great 
deliberation and care, however, as too much pres- 
sure may make a crease in the clay wall which will 



Working on the Wheel 



35 




Fig. 15 



spoil the piece. When the walls are of even thick- 
ness (not more than a quarter of an inch) and the 
shape about what one 
wishes, the top must be 
finished. 

First the edge is cut 
even. We will use for 
this the tool shown in 
Fig. 8. 

Holding the tool, 
which has been wet with 
slip, firmly in the right 
hand, brace the left by resting the thumb near where 
the steel is inserted in the wood (see Fig. 15). As 
the wheel turns, lay the left forefinger, wet with slip, 
just inside the top of the piece, 
and directly opposite (at the 
point where one wishes to cut 
the top) run the point of the 
tool through, till it touches 
the finger, and hold it steady 
and firm till one revolution of 
the wheel has been made. 
The wheel is then stopped, 
and the edge that was cut lifted off deftly and 
quickly. 




Fig. 16 



36 How to Make Pottery 

To soften the edge, hold the forefinger and middle 
finger of the right hand apart (see Fig. 16). Wet 
their inner surfaces thoroughly with slip, then, as 
the wheel revolves, hold them straight and firm 
(while the left hand steadies the wrist of the right) 
and press the rounded joining of the two fingers 
gently but firmly down on the top of the piece, 
holding it there steadily till one or two whole revo- 
lutions of the wheel have been made. If one wishes 
to have a more flaring top, lay the forefinger of the 
right hand inside the edge with ever so slight an 
outward pressure, while the wheel turns once. 
Before perfecting the bottom, it may be as well to 
let the piece stiffen for half an hour. 

The hoe-shaped tool is used for cutting away the 
extra clay under the bottom. Set the wheel in 
motion, then take the tool, well moistened with 
slip, in the left hand. Hold it firmly with its long 
edge on the top of the wheel (if it is to be a long 
and gradual slope into the bottom of the jar), while 
the right hand steadies the top outer angle of the 
tool. It is then run in under the bottom and there 
held till one or more revolutions have cut away the 
surplus clay. 

Should one wish to make a more abrupt line up 
from the bottom, the process is reversed, the right 



Working on the Wheel 37 

hand holds the tool, the short side of which is laid 
on the wheel, while the left hand holds the outside 
top angle, to steady it. 

After an hour or two, when the piece has stiffened 
somewhat, it may be smoothed, and the form 
refined or improved, if necessary, with the smooth- 
edged oval tool of sheet steel. When the wheel is 
in motion, this tool, moistened with water and bent 
to fit the curves of the piece, is held in the right 
hand at right angles with the piece, while the left 
hand supports the wrist of the right. Too abrupt 
angles may be softened and roughness removed 
with this tool. Start at the bottom with it, and 
move it up gradually, with each revolution of the 
wheel, lightly, except where the form needs much 
trimming. The rubber polisher, wet with water, is 
now passed over the surface in the same way, taking 
care that it is held at right angles with the piece and 
the hand that holds it is braced by the other. A 
stout wire held close to the piece on either side is 
then drawn under it once or twice to prevent its 
clinging to the wheel. 

The next day, or as soon as the piece is stiff, it is 
removed to a plaster tile. In finishing the bottom, 
the wheel is first scraped and wiped clean of all clay; 
the piece is then placed on it bottom up and centred. 



38 Hoiv to Make Pottery 

This is done by putting it as near the middle as pos- 
sible by eye; then when the wheel is going well, 
hold the right forefinger or a wooden tool, well 
braced, close to the piece. See if it touches at any 
point, and if so, move that side nearer the centre. 
Roll four short pieces of rather stiff clay. With 
two of these make supports on the wheel about an 
inch high, close to the piece on either side to hold it 
steady — not close enough to cling to it. Two 
more supports are placed half-way between the 
first two. 

Get the wheel going well, and holding the hoe- 
shaped tool so that its middle angle will strike the 
bottom of the piece about half an inch from the 
edge, aim it truly and hold it steadily till the wheel 
has made one or more revolutions, which will mark 
a circle. Within this line depress the bottom 
slightly by cutting out a thin layer of clay. This is 
done with the rectangular sheet steel tool held first 
near the line, then with each revolution nearer the 
centre till it reaches it. The potter next cuts his 
mark on the bottom with a wooden tool, if the piece 
is not very dry, otherwise it should be made with a 
pointed steel tool, taking care to bevel the edges of 
the incised lines. 

The jar is finished with a handle on each side. 




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O *r 



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o fe 

O <« 

o ^ 

w v 

O M 

fa £ 

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ft £ to 



Working on the Wheel 



39 



Roll out two strips of clay five and a half inches 
long ; flatten them, and trim the edges. Now mark 




Fig. 17 

a place on each side of the top of the jar, so that a 

line drawn from one to the other would exactly 

divide the top. Make two other marks in the same 

way at the bottom, 

directly under those at 

the top. These are for 

guides in attaching the 

handles. Starting at 

the top, below one of 

the marks, criss-cross 

lines with the steel tool 

for an inch down the 

side of the jar. Do this 

on the other side of the 

jar, and then, starting an inch above the mark on 

either side of the bottom, cut criss-cross lines for an 




40 How to Make Pottery 

inch up the side of the jar. Now take one of the 
clay strips, brush the upper criss-crossed lines on 
one side of the jar with slip, and press the end of the 
strip upon it, working the edges close against the 
side of the jar with the flat of the nail. The other 
end of the strip is cut in a long point to fit the form 
of the jar, and bent into the shape shown in the 
plate. Wet the criss-crossed lines below it with 
slip, and attach this end in the same way as the 
first. The other handle is put on in the same 
manner. 

A mat-glaze of gray green (see Chapter V.) will 
complete the piece. 

Such forms as are shown in Figs. 17 and 18 can 
be made without any difficulty, and they will be 
most attractive for short-stemmed flowers — violets, 
sweet peas, or nasturtiums. A ere am- jug (see 
plate) is comparatively simple. The lip is formed 
with a deft touch of the finger after the piece is 
moulded, and the handle added afterward. A 
dull-green mat -glaze will make a charming finish 
for this piece. The jar shown in Fig. 19 is more 
difficult to shape, but it is an excellent one for 
flowers. 



Methods of Decoration 



CHAPTER IV 

METHODS OF DECORATION 

The more simple and strong pottery designs are, 
the better. Those that are intricate, no matter 
how beautiful, are out of place on the big, sub- 
stantial forms; while delicate traceries are lost 
under the glaze. Here, as in basketry, we can learn 
much from the work of primitive peoples. 

In applying such designs, simple methods, too, 
are best — incising, building up the outline so that 
the design shall be raised above the background, 
cutting away the background to leave the 
design in low relief, and piercing. These are 
good processes, easy to learn, and effective in 
result. 

In starting, suppose we decorate a wheel-made 
piece — a low dish for candy, with a built-up design 
of rings. 

Dish for Candy with Ring Design 

Materials A wheel-made dish or bowl, 
required: Ultramarine blue water-colour paint, 

43 



44 How to Make Pottery 

A small water-colour paint-brush with a fine 

point, 
A saucer of ground, baked clay, mixed with 

water, 
A pitcher of water. 

The low bowl shown in the plate is not difficult 
to mould on the wheel. After it has become bone 
dry — as it will in three or four days — it will be safe 
to decorate it in this way. Be careful, in handling 
the piece, not to grasp it by the edge, which, in all 
unbaked pottery, but especially in that that is bone 
dry, is the most fragile part. It should be held in 
the hollow of the left hand, while the right does the 
work. Have ready some ultramarine blue water- 
colour paint mixed with water in a cup, a small 
paint-brush tapering to a fine point, and a saucer in 
which is some baked or biscuit clay, pale yellow in 
colour, ground fine and mixed with water to the 
consistency of thick cream. A jug of water nearby 
is also necessary, to thin the clay mixture when it 
stiffens. 

The design chosen is one large and two small 
rings, alternating around the bowl near the top (see 
Fig. 20). First measure the circumference of the 
top of the bowl. Divide it into fifths and mark the 
divisions with the paint-brush and blue paint. 
Starting a quarter of an inch below one of these 



Methods of Decoration 



45 



marks, draw a small ring, about half an inch in 
diameter, with the blue paint. Should you 
make a mistake, the paint will erase easily after 
it is dry. 

Half an inch below the first ring another is drawn. 
One of these groups of two small rings is made 
below each of the five marks around the top of the 







Fig. 20 



bowl. Then starting half an inch below the top of 
the bowl, and midway between two groups, draw a 
larger ring about an inch in diameter. One of 
these rings is outlined in the same way in each of 
the five spaces. When the design is perfected and 
the paint dry, dilute a little of the baked clay in the 
saucer to the consistency of thin cream, and with 
it and the brush, thoroughly cleansed from blue 



46 How to Make Pottery 

paint, trace the outlines of the decoration. Use a 
full brush, and make the lines as uniform as possi- 
ble in width and thickness. There should be four 
or more coats of this material applied in order to 
build up the design sufficiently, but only the first 
one is thin. This is so that it shall cling to the clay 
underneath. The next and subsequent coats are 
made with a thicker consistency of the creamy 
mixture, which must, however, be thin enough 
to flow freely from the brush. Do not add 
a coat until the one underneath is thoroughly 
dry. 

The piece is now ready for glazing. 
A pale-green glaze may be used (see Chapter V.). 

Incising is an abso- 
lutely simple process, 
which gives a charm- 
ing effect. Examples 
of this method of 
decoration are shown 
in the fruit-bowl with 
a garland of orange leaves just below the rim on the 
inside (see plate and Fig. 25), and the smaller 
bowl with a maple-seed design (see plate and Fig. 
21). Incising also helps the pierced design on the 
rose-bowl described in Chapter VII. 




Methods of Decoration 47 

To Decorate a Small Bowl with Incised Design 0} 
Maple Seeds 

Materials A small wheel-made bowl, 

required: A pointed steel tool, 

A pointed boxwood tool, 

A box-wood tool with curved point. 

The bowl, a low one, is made on the wheel accord- 
ing to the directions in Chapter III. After it has 
dried for a day, it may be decorated with an incised 
design. 

Suppose we choose for this a winged maple-seed, 
the simple outlines of which any one can draw. 
From tip to tip of the wings should measure at least 
an inch and three-quarters. If the bowl is small, 
not more than four and a half inches in diameter at 
the top, six seeds should be made at equal distances 
around it. First measure the circumference of the 
top of the bowl. Divide it into sixths, and with a 
pencil mark off as many divisions on the edge of the 
bowl. 

The design, which is drawn so that the seed 
portion is down and the little wings turn up, is first 
outlined in pencil near the top of the bowl. Begin 
by drawing the seed part, which should be about 
an inch below a pencil-mark on the edge. With a 
boxwood point deepen the line, and then make the 



48 How to Make Pottery 

incision still deeper, using the wooden tool with a 
curved point. Take care not to make a double 
line in deepening the first outline ; it should be a 
clean, firm line, with a bevelled edge. Avoid cut- 
ting under the edge, as the glaze will not run 
smoothly over it. 

If the piece is too dry to admit of incising with a 
wooden tool, use a pointed steel tool at first and 
finish with a wooden one. Certain parts of the 
design should be accented by deepening the line — 
for example, the rounded seed portion, particularly 
where it joins the wings. 

This bowl may be finished with a pale-green mat- 
glaze (see Chapter V.) or with a soft brown one. 

A decoration that is left in low relief by cutting 
away the background is admirable for some pieces. 
The moth design on the rose-bowl in Chapter VI. is 
made in this way. The design is first drawn on the 
piece in pencil. Next it is outlined with firm, sure 
strokes, using a pointed steel tool, and taking great 
care not to cut under the edge of the outline, but 
bevel it, as in other processes. Go over the whole 
outline of the design again with a boxwood point, 
making the lines deeper. Then start close to the 
edge of the outline with the steel tool, which has a 
flat point, and scrape away from it, cutting as deep 



Methods of Decoration 



49 



as the outline, close to the design, and sloping 
gradually up to nothing at about half an inch from 





Fig. 22 

it. Certain parts of the design may be emphasised 
by cutting the outline somewhat deeper at those 
points. Be sure to cut away enough clay about 
the design to leave it in decided relief, for the glaze 
softens the edges, and makes them too indefinite if 
they are not firm and clear in the beginning. 

Pierced decorations are particularly good on pot- 
tery. Such simple designs as those in Figs. 22, 23, 
and 24 will be found the most satisfactory. 





Fig. 23 

In planning a pierced decoration for the top of a 
piece, take care not to start it too close to the rim; 



50 How to Make Pottery 

three-quarters of an inch or more should be left 
between the edge and the decoration, otherwise 
the piercing will weaken the piece. 

Outline the design first in pencil, then with firm, 
clear strokes follow the line with the pointed steel 
tool. The line is traced a second time still more 
deeply. All the clay within the outlines is cut 
out as far as the incision has been made, and 



CO <0 

Fig. 24 

then the sharp point of the tool is run through the 
wall close to the fine. While the clay is being cut 
away with the right hand, the left supports the 
inner wall of the piece. 

When the whole design has been pierced, moisten 
the finger with water and soften the edges of the 
decoration, that the glaze may flow freely over it. 
Decorations in high relief are made as follows: 



Methods of Decoration 51 

Small lumps of clay, as nearly as possible the con- 
sistency of the piece of pottery, are applied to the 
portions which are to be decorated, and which 
have previously been criss-crossed with a steel tool, 
and wet with slip. The design is then moulded 
with the hands and wooden modelling tools, work- 
ing the edges close on to the surface of the piece. 



The Glaze 
and How to Apply It 



CHAPTER V 

THE GLAZE AND HOW TO APPLY IT 

Clay that is simply baked, without a glazed 
coating, will not hold water perfectly. 

One can imagine what a blow it must have been 
to the early potter when he found that this was the 
case. Some say that he used wax at first to close 
the pores of his pottery, and later — perhaps by the 
overheating of a kiln — glazed pottery was discov- 
ered. Pottery that is soft will develop a semi- 
glazed surface when overtired, and it is probable 
that some such accident suggested the use of the 
glaze. 

The first glaze was doubtless a pure silicate of 
soda. Oxide of lead added to this made it more 
fusible, but it was not as hard or durable. 

What is known as biscuit is baked clay porous 
and without gloss — for example, a flower-pot. 

Glossy pottery has a very thin layer of glaze upon 
it. The Samian ware of the Greeks furnishes 

55 



56 How to Make Pottery 

examples of this finish. Glazed pottery is covered 
with a perceptible coating of glass. 

Enamelled ware, or pottery with a mat -glaze, 
has a glazed coating made opaque with oxide of 
tin. This finish is used on some of the most beauti- 
ful art pottery. Glazes may be coloured with cer- 
tain metallic oxides without losing their trans- 
parency. 

One is often confused by hearing the terms 
enamel and glaze carelessly used. Enamel should 
be used to describe a vitreous coating that is 
opaque, and glaze a glossy, transparent surface — 
both may be coloured. The term mat -glaze is an 
exception to this rule. This means an opaque glaze 
with a glossy finish. 

The materials of which glazes are composed are 
about the same as those that enter into the com- 
position of clays with a few additions. There is 
in glazes, as in clays, the play of soft and hard 
materials, or the flux and frit. Flint, aluminum, 
or china clay forms the frit or hard, refractory- 
portion; potash, soda, lead or borax the melting 
part or flux. The addition of clays gives dur- 
ability. 

In preparing the flux, it is melted like glass and 
then crushed to powder. The frit must first be 



The Glaze and How to Apply It 57 

melted, then dropped from the crucible into water 
before it can be powdered. 

The making of glazes is not often done by ama- 
teurs, and unless one is planning to start pottery- 
making as a business, and requires large quantities 
of glazes, it is best to buy them from a reliable 
dealer. They come in the form of powder — soft 
glaze, hard glaze, and stannifere, which is a hard 
glaze with some oxide of tin added, to make it 
opaque. The soft glazes are used on ware which 
fires at a low heat, and is therefore not durable. 
A large proportion of hard glaze must be added to 
make the preparation applicable to a pottery 
which is fired at an intense heat, while if one wishes 
a mat-glaze the stannifere is also used. 

The colouring materials may be bought of the 
same dealer. They are as follows: Antimony for 
yellow, cobalt for blue, copper for green, chrome 
for green, manganese for brown, and iron for brown. 
Red oxide of iron colours a purplish red, and 
carbonate of copper makes a gray green that is very 
beautiful. A ground glass or stone slab, on which 
to mix the glaze, and a palette knife, will be re- 
quired; also a small quantity of gum-arabic and of 
gum tragacanth, a small teacup, and a measuring- 
glass. These, with two or three soft paint-brushes 



58 How to Make Pottery 

of various sizes — one that is an inch wide, one 
smaller, and another larger — will be enough of an 
outfit to start with. 

The gum-arabic should be dissolved in water to 
the consistency of honey. It is used in the first 
coat of glaze to bind the glaze and prevent it from 
rubbing off. Quite a little of it may be prepared 
at a time and kept in a covered glass jar until 
needed. The gum tragacanth is bought in small 
quantities — five cents' worth at a time Cover this 
amount with one pint of water and let it stand 
over night. In the morning, strain it through a 
fine sieve and put it away in a glass jar till it is 
needed. 

If possible, very large pieces of pottery should 
be fired before they are glazed — in the biscuit, as it 
is called. Small and medium-sized pieces may be 
glazed on the green clay — the term by which 
unbaked clay is known among potters. The piece 
should have dried thoroughly for several days, 
until it is light gray in colour, and what is known 
as bone dry. It is decorated, if decoration is re- 
quired, and then glazed. All vessels that are used 
to hold or measure glaze should first be dipped in 
water to prevent waste from the glaze clinging to 
them. The hands should be washed thoroughly 



The Glaze and How to Apply It 59 

after working with glazes, as some of the materials 
used are poisonous. 

For the inside of most pieces a transparent glaze 
is used, whether the outer glaze is to be transparent 
or opaque. 

All of the odds and ends of transparent glaze, no 
matter what the colour, that are left after each 
glazing, are poured into a large bowl or other ves- 
sel which is kept for the purpose. The mixture of 
all colours in this combination of glazes makes a 
neutral tint which harmonizes most agreeably with 
the outer glaze, whatever its colour. 

It is applied as follows: 

To Glaze the Inside of a Piece of Pottery 

Take a small cupful of transparent glaze, and, 
holding the piece of pottery over the large vessel 
containing the liquid, pour the cupful of glaze into 
it, rolling it around the inside of the piece quickly 
but carefully, so as to have it cover the entire inner 
surface. Then turn the piece deftly and suddenly 
bottom up, so as to empty it into the large vessel 
without letting any of it drip over onto the outside 
of the piece. Should this happen, by accident, rub 
it quickly off with the fingers. 



60 How to Make Pottery 

The Outside Glaze and Horn to Apply It 

The most satisfactory finish for the outside of 
fine pottery is a mat or opaque glaze in any soft 
dull shade of green, brown, blue, yellow, or the red 
obtainable with red oxide of iron. For an art pot- 
tery, composed of fire- and blue-clay, which requires 
a strong heat, the following glaze is applicable: 

Gray-Green Mat-Glaze 

Mix i tablespoonful of soft glaze, 

£ tablespoonful of stannifere, and 
£ tablespoonful of China clay, 

together on a stone or glass slab with a palette 
knife, adding ^ teaspoonful of gum-arabic and 
enough water to make the consistency a little 
thicker than thick cream. About J teaspoonful of 
carbonate of copper added to this mixture (and 
ground thoroughly into it with the palette knife) 
will make a light gray-green. For deeper shades 
increase the quantity slightly. The tint appears 
much lighter than it will when fired; indeed, in the 
colouring of glazes, as in painting on china, the 
worker needs a great deal of faith, for until the 
magic of the kiln brings out the colours one would 
never guess what they were to be. 

In applying the glaze, place your piece bottom 



The Glaze and How to Apply It 61 

up on a table, or other flat surface. Dip a soft, flat 
paint-brush into the bowl of glaze, and beginning 
with the bottom, paint it on in short strokes in 
every direction — what an artist would call cross- 
hatching — and overlapping slightly like the shin- 
gles on a house. The bottom receives but one coat 
of glaze, as it is liable to stick in firing and be uneven 
if it has more than one. Next start at the sides, 
near the bottom (as the piece stands upside down), 
and paint down for an inch or two all around. The 
piece is then set right side up, providing, of course, 
that the bottom is dry, which it will be undoubt- 
edly, and the rest of it is glazed. From time to 
time stir up the glaze from the bottom, that it may 
be thoroughly mixed. 

The edge especially should be carefully covered, 
and the outer glaze may even be brought over inside 
the piece a little. Before applying the second and 
third coats (for the piece receives three) two tea- 
spoonfuls of gum tragacanth, well mixed according 
to directions, are added to the glaze. In putting 
on the second coat, the piece is again placed upside 
down on the table, and beginning where the sides 
join the bottom, the glaze is applied as before. 
The sides and top edge only are glazed this time. 
The third coat, which is put on when the second is 



62 How to Make Pottery 

dry, is begun at the top edge, covering it well, and 
is ended gradually and unevenly half way down the 
sides. 

Pale-green Mat-Glaze 

To make a lighter shade of green, with just a hint 
of yellow to soften it, add to half the quantity of 
the glaze first mixed as much again of the uncol- 
oured glaze and a slight sprinkling of yellow. 

It will be seen from these directions how much 
the colouring of glazes is like the blending of pig- 
ments for a picture. It is a delightful field for ex- 
periment, and the element of chance is supplied by 
the kiln, which often does unexpected and interest- 
ing things to one's colours and glazes — leaving here, 
a touch of brown about the rim to relieve an ex- 
panse of green; there, a metallic tinge almost like 
lustre; and again the biscuit peeps through the 
glaze, giving a warmer tone to the edge of a decora- 
tion. 

In mixing the glaze for a piece that has been fired 
in the biscuit, make it a little thicker than that for 
use on the green clay — about the consistency of 
whipped cream. It is applied somewhat differ- 
ently, too. A potter would tell you to "rag it on" 
— that is, put it on with firm, short strokes, using the 



The Glaze and How to Apply It 63 

ends of the hairs of the brush instead of the flat 
part. Let each coat dry well before the next is 
applied. Three or four coats will be necessary, 
except for the bottom, which receives but one. 
After the first coat, gum tragacanth is added, as in 
glazing on green clay. The fourth coat need not 
entirely cover the piece, but the top should be care- 
fully glazed. If for any reason the pottery has to 
be re-fired, it should be re-glazed, but two coats 
only will be necessary, and the glaze need not be 
quite so heavy as that used on the biscuit. Do not 
be discouraged if your pieces need a second or even 
a third firing, for often the most beautiful results 
are obtained by re-firing. Quality — that combina- 
tion of richness, and depth of colour and texture — 
rarely comes with the first firing. 



Pottery for Beauty and Use 



CHAPTER VI 

POTTERY FOR BEAUTY AND USE 

When one thinks of the limitless possibilities of 
pottery in household decoration — the great dishes 
for flowers and fruit, the lamp-bowls, candlesticks, 
and tiles — one may make , one can hardly wait to 
begin. Now is the chance to work out a long- 
treasured idea for a match-bowl, or a plant-jar to 
hang against the wall or window frame. Now one 
can show the superiority of one's conceptions over 
the stupid things in shops ! Let us hasten to get 
out the clay and begin. 

Dark-Green Fruit-Bowl 

Materials About 4J pounds of clay, 
required: A plaster mould for a bowl, 10 or 11 inches in 
diameter at the top, 

The oval tools of sheet steel, 

The wooden modelling tools, 

The pointed steel tool, 

A flint bag, 

A rolling-pin, 

A bowl of slip, 

A small sponge. 

67 



68 How to Make Pottery 

Take a good lump of clay, about four and a half 
pounds, well worked and free from air-bubbles. 
Beat out a piece with the flat of the hand on a table 
until it is about three-quarters of an inch thick and 
more than large enough to cover the bottom of the 
plaster mould you have chosen. It should be of 
even thickness, and may be rolled with a rolling-pin 
to make it smooth. Be sure that the plaster mould 
is clean and free from scraps of clay. Then dust it 
with powdered flint tied up in a cotton cloth. Now 
fit the flat piece of clay carefully into the bottom of 
the bowl mould, pressing it firmly, but lightly, 
against it. Cut the edge evenly around. Next a 
long rope of clay is rolled as described in Chapter II. 
It should be an inch in diameter, and long enough 
to go around the bowl just above the bottom. 
Pat it flat and even, and cut one end into a long 
point. After cross-cutting the edge of the bottom 
piece (to insure its holding firmly to the coil above), 
brush it with slip and lay the coil along, pressing it 
firmly on to the edge of the bottom piece. Work 
the edges of this piece and the coil together with 
firm, short strokes of the flat part of the thumb or 
forefinger nail. Where the coil joins the other end 
it is cut into a long, flat point that will fit exactly 
the point at the beginning, completing the row. 



Pottery for Beauty and Use 69 

For the next coil no cross-cutting with the tool is 
necessary, but otherwise the process is the same in 
joining this and subsequent coils. Care should be 
taken to press the clay firmly against the walls of 
the mould, as well as upon the coil below. When 
the inside of the mould is covered, if a deeper bowl 
is desired, add one or two more coils above the edge, 
taking care to have them slope in such a way as to 
continue the lines of the bowl. It is then set away 
to harden. The next day the clay will have dried 
and shrunk sufficiently to come easily away from 
the plaster. The bowl is then placed bottom up 
on a table or flat slab, and the hollows left between 
the coils on the outside are wet with slip and filled 
in evenly, with clay of the consistency of that in 
the piece. This will take time and care. The 
bowl is then allowed to dry for an hour or two. 
Next it is carefully scraped and made even; first 
with the oval steel tool with a saw edge, held at 
right angles with the bowl and curved to fit the 
form : this is to get the large bumps off. It is then 
carefully evened off with the smooth-edged oval 
tool bent to fit the curves of the bowl. The inside 
is made smooth and even in the same way, brush- 
ing any deep hollows with slip and filling them in 
with clay. This process should be carefully and 



70 How to Make Pottery 

conscientiously done, so that the walls of the bowl, 
as one feels them between finger and thumb, are 
even and free from lumps. They should not be 
more than a quarter of an inch thick. 

A damp sponge is then passed over the bowl, and 
the fingers and thumb smooth and polish it outside 
and in. The edge is trimmed as evenly as possible by 
eye with a steel tool and then bevelled as follows: 

On a large slab of ground glass pour a little water, 
which should be spread over the glass till it is thor- 
oughly wet. Now, holding the bowl bottom up, 
firmly with both hands, press its edge quickly and 




Fig. 25 

with a circular motion flat on the glass. It must 
be done so rapidly and deftly that it will not stick, 
but makes the edge even and true. Slip it off at 
the side of the slab instead of lifting it up from the 
centre. The bottom is finished as described in 
Chapter II. If this is done in the morning, the bowl 
will be ready for the decoration in the afternoon. 
This is a band of orange leaves (see Fig. 25), deeply 



Pottery for Beauty and Use 71 

incised near the top of the bowl on the inside (see 
Chapter IV.). More character will be given to the 
design if the line is broad and deep, particularly 
at the points of the leaves, which are thus empha- 
sised. This piece being so large, should, if possible, 
be fired in the biscuit and then finished, inside and 
out, with a dark-green mat -glaze (see Chapter V.), 
and fired again. 

Candlestick, Thumb Design 

Materials About i\ pounds of clay, 
required: The boxwood modelling tools, 

The pointed steel tool, 

A plaster slab, 

A small sponge. 

This sturdy little candlestick shows that it is 
hand moulded by the marks of the potter's thumb 
on base, handle and candle cup. The square base 
is moulded from a single large piece of clay. This 
is patted flat and even with the thick part of the 
hand, and then cut square and the sides turned up 
for about an inch, making the base about five inches 
square and three-eighths of an inch thick. It is 
then placed on a plaster slab, and the corners are 
pressed in with a firmly held thumb. The sides of 
the square base are moulded into a gradual inward 
curve, and the corners are slightly depressed (see 



72 



How to Make Pottery 



plate). A cup for the candle (see Fig. 26) is made 
by rolling a piece of clay into cylindrical form, 
about an inch and three-quarters in diameter and 
two inches and a quarter long. At the top of this 
roll, the finger makes a hollow for the candle. It 
should be remembered that the clay shrinks both 
in drying and firing, so this hole should be a trifle 
large and deep for the candle. 
The sides of the cup, at about an 
inch from the top, are squared 
and pressed in so that the 
four corners will stand out like 
columns. The hollowed sides 
between the corners show the 
mark of the thumb (see Fig. 26). 
The centre of the base is now 
wet with thick slip and the candle cup pressed 
firmly on to it, while the edges are moulded closely 
on to the base. 

A piece of clay is then rolled and flattened into a 
handle an inch in diameter and five inches long. 
This is put on at one corner of the base, and is not 
attached at any other point. Before moulding it 
on to the base, touch the corner lightly with thick 
slip, to insure its holding. Where the handle joins 
the base it is made thick and substantial by adding 




Fig. 26 



Pottery for Beauty and Use 



73 



a little extra clay. The print of the thumb is made 
where the handle joins the corner, another is 
pressed on the top, and another still on the end of 
the handle (see plate and Fig. 27). To support the 
handle until it dries, roll a ball of soft paper under 
it. After the candlestick has stood for a few hours 
out - of - doors or in - 
doors overnight, it is 
carefully trimmed with 
one of the wooden 
tools or the sharp- 
pointed metal one, 
taking care to leave 
sufficient thickness to 
give it a sturdy, sub- 
stantial character, yet 
not enough to make it clumsy. It is then 
rubbed over with a damp sponge and polished with 
the thumb and finger, which will smooth away any 
lumps and give the piece a hand-moulded look. 
Should there be any very deep hollows to make it 
uneven, they should be wet with slip very slightly 
and filled in with clay as nearly the consistency of 
that in the candlestick as possible. When it is 
bone dry, it will be ready for the glaze (see Chap- 
ter V.). 




Fig. 27 



74 How to Make Pottery 

Bowl for a Lamp 

Materials About 3$ pounds of clay, 
required : A plaster mould for a bowl, 

The wooden modelling tools, 

The oval sheet steel tools, 

The pointed steel tool, 

A rolling-pin, 

A flint bag, 

A small sponge. 

Having chosen a good mould for your bowl, brush 
it inside with ground flint tied in a cotton cloth, so 
that the clay will not stick to it. Now beat out a 
piece of well- worked clay on a board, with the flat 
of the hand, until it is perhaps two inches more in 
diameter than the bottom of the mould, and half 
an inch thick. It should be rolled smooth with 
the rolling-pin. Lay it in the mould, pressing it 
firmly against the bottom and sides. It may not 
be out of place here to say that no tool but a wooden 
one should be used in working in moulds, as metal 
tools are liable to injure the plaster. The edge of 
the bottom piece is next cut even with a wooden 
modelling tool, and a lump of clay is formed into a 
rude cube shape between the hands and then rolled 
out on a table or board with the flat of the hand 
till about three-quarters of an inch in diameter. 
This roll of clay is flattened evenly for its whole 



Pottery for Beauty and Use 75 

length. The top edge of the bottom piece is marked 
with criss-cross lines and wet with slip. The roll 
of clay is then started on edge, along the top of the 
bottom piece, pressed firmly down upon it and 
against the sides of the mould. It is joined to the 
bottom with firm, even strokes of the thumb or fore- 
finger nail. When the circuit has been made, the 
two ends, each cut in a long, flat point, so that they 
will unite perfectly, are joined. Another roll is 
now made, the upper edge of the previous coil is 
wet with slip, and the coil is attached in the same 
way, being careful to start at a different place from 
where the previous coil was joined. Thus the whole 
bowl is built up. Where there are any decided hol- 
lows made by joining the coils, they should be filled 
in with clay of the consistency of the piece, and the 
bottom and sides smoothed with dampened finger 
or modelling tool. If a moderately deep mould has 
been chosen, after the sides are covered with layers 
of clay, four or more coils may be added above the 
mould to make a deeper bowl, continuing the sides 
in a graceful line. To do this, when the first coil 
above the mould has been attached, the bowl is 
set away, out of doors for fifteen or twenty minutes 
if it is in summer or indoors for a longer time if one 
is working in the winter. Whenever two coils have 



76 How to Make Pottery 

been built up, the piece is set away to harden. 
These coils, being free from the mould, can be 
joined on the outside as well as within. They are 
brought gradually in (see plate) until there is a 
space five and a half inches in diameter at the top. 
If a central-draught lamp is to be used in this bowl, 
a pierced design will be practical, as it does away 
with the necessity for a hole at the bottom of the 
bowl. There is much to be done, however, before 
the piece is ready for the design. When it has 
stood for four or five hours or overnight, the bowl 
can be lifted from the mould, the cracks on the out- 
side where it was impossible to join the coils are 
wet with slip and filled in with clay of the con- 
sistency of the bowl, using the finger or a wooden 
tool. When the bowl is quite dry, it is smoothed 
inside and out, first with the oval tool with saw 
teeth, and then with the smooth-edged one, as 
described on page 19. The strokes with these tools 
should be short and firm, in every direction. The 
piece is then turned bottom up, a circle is drawn 
half an inch in from the edge of the bottom, and 
the clay within it scraped out, so as to leave a flat 
surface slightly lower than the outer rim. This is 
where the potter cuts his mark — a simple, quickly 
made initial in lieu of a signature. 



Pottery for Beauty and Use 77 

The top edge, after it has been cut as true as pos- 
sible by eye, is made absolutely even by the method 
described on page 70. The whole piece is then 
rubbed with a damp sponge and smoothed and 
polished with the fingers. It is now ready for the 
design (see Fig. 28). 

The top edge of the bowl is marked off into fifths, 
and at three-quarters of an inch from the top the 

Fig. 28 

design is drawn with pencil, so that each time it is 
repeated the centre shall be directly below a mark 
on the edge. It is first incised with a metal tool, 
in firm, sure lines. Again the outline is traced, 
this time more deeply. Then the clay within the 
lines is cut out as deep as it has been incised, and 
finally the sharp edge of the tool cuts through the 
wall, close to the line. The left hand should sup- 
port the inner wall of the bowl during this process. 
When the whole design has been made, dip the 
finger in water and soften the edges of the cut por- 
tion. The bowl is now ready for glazing. If pos- 



78 How to Make Pottery 

sible, it will be better to fire such a large piece as 
this in the biscuit before glazing. It will look well 
if glazed with gray blue or dark green (see Chap- 
ter V.). 

Wall Jar for Plants or Flowers 

Materials About 4J pounds of well-mixed clay, 
required: A plaster slab about 10 by 12 inches, 
The oval tools of sheet steel, 
The pointed steel tool, 
A rolling-pin, 

Ultramarine blue water-colour paint, 
A medium-sized paint-brush with fine point, 
A saucerful of ground, baked clay, mixed with 
water. 

An Indian water-jar of basketry, smeared with 
pinon gum, pointed at the bottom so that it could 
be set upright in the ground or hung by leather 
thongs to a tree, suggested the form of this jar. 
One side is made flat, so that it can hang against the 
wall of library or piazza holding some long trailing 
plant that grows in water, ivy, or wandering Jew, 
or wild flowers gathered on a walk through woods 
and lanes. What more appropriate way to make 
it than the Indian process described in Chapter II. ? 
We shallneed about four and a half pounds of clay^ 
well mixed. A large lump, almost two pounds, is 
flattened out on a table, with the thick part of the 



Pottery for Beauty and Use 



79 



hand and then made even with the rolling-pin. 
The sheet of clay should be ten by twelve inches, 
and not less than three-eighths of an inch thick. 
Upon it the jar form shown in Fig. 29 is outlined 
with a pencil, making it as large as possible to allow 
for shrinkage. It is then cut out with the pointed 
steel tool and transferred very carefully to a large 
plaster slab, where it remains while the walls are 

being built upon it. A 

coil of clay is rolled out, 
as described in Chapter 
II., and beginning at the 
left side of the jar shape, 
at the top, it is attached 
to the edge (which has 
previously been criss- 
crossed with a steel tool 
and wet with slip), all the way around to the op- 
posite side of the top. 

The jar is then put in the air until quite hard, 
when the next coil is added in the same way. The 
third coil is brought in a little toward the centre, 
and subsequent coils come in still more, so as to 
make the form that of a jar cut exactly in half. 
After each coil is attached, it should be left in the 
air to stiffen, or the clay beneath will not support 




Fig. 29 



So 



How to Make Pottery 



the coil in progress, so great is the strain in forming 
such a shape. Each time a coil is added the wall 
below should be criss-crossed with the steel tool 
(an extra precaution) and wet with slip. Care 
should be taken not to make the walls too thick, and 
to join the coils and finish the inside as it is made ; 
for, when the jar is completed, it is impossible to 
get the hand and tool in far enough to smooth and 
finish it well. 

When the jar is made, except for a diamond- 
shaped gap in the middle of the front wall, the 
piece to fill it is cut and fitted in. It will lie almost 
parallel with the back wall. Take care to make it 
full large for the opening, and join it to the inner 

edges most carefully, for 
= ^ {1 jf * here, if anywhere, is the 

jar liable to crack. The 
top is now made even 
by eye, using the point- 
ed steel tool. 

When the jar is some- 
what dry, two handles 
(see plate) are formed of 
rolls of clay (the consist- 
ency of that used in making the jar), five and a 
half inches long by an inch wide and half an inch 




Fig. 30 




FOTTERY FOR BEAUTY AND USE 

The pale-green rose-bowl with a moth design, at the left, has beside it a low Dutch 
dish. On the right is a fruit-bowl with a deep-green mat-glaze. 




HOW TO MAKE A PLASTER MOULD 
At the left is a plaster mould, and beside it a rose-bowl which was partially formed 
within it. See chapter VII. 



^c- 





POTTERY FOR BEAUTY AND I SK 

The lamn-bowl on the left has a gray-b'ue mat-g'aze. Next to it is a candlestick, with 
the marks of the potter's thumb on every part The wall-jar in the background is for 
plants that grow in water. On the right is a t\ w t r candlestick in ereen and white. 



Pottery for Beauty and Use 81 

thick. These are firmly attached to the back wall 
of the jar at the top (see plate), according to the 
method described on pages 39 and 40. The deco- 
ration (see Fig. 30) is drawn on the rounded front 
wall of the jar with ultramarine water-colour, and 
then built up with powdered burnt clay and water 
(see directions in Chapter IV.). If possible, this 
piece should be first fired in the biscuit. A glaze of 
dark gray green (see Chapter V.) will finish it 
most attractively. 

Dutch Dish for Candy 

Materials About i| pounds of clay, 
icquired: The wooden modelling tools, 

The sharp-pointed steel, tool, 

A plaster tile, 

A rolling-pin. 

A quaint Dutch dish, brought from Holland 
years ago, was the model for this sturdy little piece 
of pottery. It may be used for candy or to hold a 
vase of flowers, or a potted plant, protecting a pol- 
ished table. A lump of clay is rolled on a table 
with the hands and a rolling-pin to the thickness 
of half an inch. Upon this clay sheet a rectangle 
four and a quarter by four and a half inches is 
drawn with a pencil and cut out with the pointed 
steel tool. It is then transferred to a plaster tile. 



82 How to Make Pottery 

To the edge of this rectangle a coil of clay is 
attached according to the directions in Chapter II., 
and flared slightly outward, taking care not to 
make the corners sharp, but rounded and even. 
After the first coil has stiffened, and the sides have 
been made somewhat uniform and thin, it is cut 
even by eye, curving the edge up gradually toward 
the middle of the sides and depressing it slightly at 
the corners. 

A second coil is now added, but instead of at- 
taching it to the top of the first one, it is joined just 
below the top and inside the first coil. When it 
has stiffened sufficiently in the air, the dish is 
smoothed carefully inside and out with the hand 
and the wooden modelling tools, making the walls 
even and thin and perfecting the shape. 

The effect of legs is given by cutting under the 
sides, beginning half an inch above the bottom. If 
this is started three-quarters of an inch from the 
corners, it will leave a sturdy, short leg an inch and 
a half wide at each of the four corners of the dish. 

A roll of clay about five and a half inches long, an 
inch wide, and three-eighths of an inch thick is 
made into a handle (see plate), which is attached 
at the middle of one of the sides of the dish. At 
the two points where it is to be joined, the side of 



Pottery for Beauty and Use 83 

the dish is criss-crossed with the steel tool and wet 
with slip. 

The bottom is finished by drawing a square 
with a pencil, half an inch in from the edge, and 
depressing it within the square, so as to leave a 
flat, even surface. The potter's mark is then made 
within this square. 

A pale green mat -glaze (see Chapter V.) makes 
a charming finish for this piece. 

Rose-Bowl with Moth Design 

Materials About 5 pounds of clay, 
required : A rolling-pin, 

The oval sheet- steel tools, 

The pointed-steel tool, 

The steel tool with a flat end, 

A plaster tile. 

This rose-bowl, which is shown in the plate, 
was built up without a pasteboard outline. If 
one's eye is reasonably true this is not a difficult 
matter, but otherwise the outline process (see 
Chapter II.) may be followed. 

A piece of clay is first patted flat with the hand, 
and then rolled out with the rolling-pin, until it 
is six inches square and about five-eighths of an 
inch thick. Upon this clay sheet a circle is marked, 
five inches in diameter, cut out and placed on a 



84 



How to Make Pottery 




plaster tile. The edge is criss-crossed with a steel 
tool and wet with slip, and the first coil is attached 
(see Chapter II.). 
Two coils are built up, and then they are pressed 

outward to form the 
beginning of the out- 
line, shown in Fig 31. 
This outline was taken 
from the lower sweep of 
the wings of a lunar 
Fig. 31 moth, and the same 

moth forms the relief design upon it (see Fig. 32). 
The bowl is then put out-of-doors until the 
clay is sufficiently firm to support two more coils. 
These are added; flar- 
ing them to follow the 
outline, and then the 
bowl is put away to 
harden — in the air, if 
the temperature is not 
too cold, otherwise in- 
doors. It is built up 
exactly as was the flower 
jar in Chapter II., ex- 
cept that there is no cardboard outline to test it ; 
the eye alone is the guide. Great care should be 




Fig. 32 



Pottery for Beauty and Use 85 

taken not to add the coils until those below 
are quite stiff, for the decided flare makes it 
difficult to keep the sides firm and true in 
outline. The circumference of the bowl, at its 
widest part, should be about thirty inches. 
YVTien it is finished, the sides within and with- 
out are smoothed, first with the saw-edged 
oval tool, then with the smooth one. The edge is 
cut as true as possible by eye, and made perfectly 
level by pressing it quickly and lightly on the 
ground -glass slab, wet with clear water, as already 
described. A damp sponge is then passed over 
the piece, inside and out, while the fingers rub and 
polish it dry. 

The bottom is finished and the potter's mark 
made as described in Chapter II. 

When the bowl is thoroughly dry — say the 
following day — it is ready for the decoration. 

Divide the circumference of the top of the bowl 
into fifths, with pencil marks, lightly made. Then 
draw the design upon it, so that the top of the up- 
per wings shall be not less than an inch from the 
edge of the bowl. Make the moths as nearly life 
size as the bowl will allow. Three and a half 
inches across, from tip to tip of the upper wings, 
with spaces an inch and a half between them, will 



86 How to Make Pottery 

look well, if the bowl is large enough. Having 
drawn the design in pencil, outline it firmly with 
the sharp steel tool, taking care to bevel the edge 
of the design. Never cut under the edge, as the 
glaze will not flow well over it. Go over the out- 
line, making it firm and deep, with a wooden 
point. Now, starting close to the edge of the 
moth, with the flat-pointed steel tool scrape away 
from it, so as to cut as deep as the outline, close 
to the design, and shave off to nothing at about 
half an inch from it. This will give a low relief 
effect, which is very attractive. The antennas 
are incised (see Chapter IV.), and the markings 
of the moth may be built up with ground, baked 
clay, so as to heighten the relief. The bowl may 
be glazed a pale green with a slight yellow tinge 
(see Chapter V.) to suggest the colour of the 
moth. It should, however, if possible be fired 
first in the biscuit. 

Flower Candlestick 

Materials About i§ pounds of clay, 
required: The wooden modelling tools, 
A plaster tile. 

A candlestick in flower form may be made in 

green and white, for a bedroom in a country house. 

Five leaves, much the shape of poppy leaves. 



Pottery for Beauty and Use 87 

radiate from the centre, making a base from which 
the stem rises for three inches. A round, slightly- 
flattened calyx, topped by a five-petalled flower, 
forms the cup for the candle. A sixth leaf, start- 
ing at the centre of the base, curls over until its 
tip rests sideways against the stem, serving the 
double purpose of a handle and a brace for the 
stem. The base should be modelfed first, from 
a single piece of clay, placed on a plaster tile. Care 
should be taken to have it sufficiently thick — at 
teast half an inch in most places. Although the 
leaves should be indicated, do not try to carry 
the leaf form way to the centre of the base. Let 
the irregular outline of the whole base, with an 
occasional raised tip, or edge of a leaf, suggest 
rather than imitate leaves. The leaf that forms 
the handle will, of course, be more carefully mod- 
elled. Now mould the stem, about an inch in 
diameter and three inches long, with the calyx 
on the end, an inch and three-quarters in diameter, 
and an inch high. After criss-crossing the middle 
of the base with the pointed-steel tool, wet it with 
slip and set the stem on the base, working the 
edges firmly on to it with the flat of the nail and 
wooden modelling tools. The leaf for the handle 
is brought over against the stem with a graceful 



88 How to Make Pottery 

turn, and there fastened with a touch of slip and 
some clay added underneath. Be careful to have 
the whole candlestick substantial, and not at all 
thin in construction, or it will suggest metal work 
rather than pottery. 

After the candlestick has stiffened for a few 
hours, a five-pet ailed flower, three and three- 
quarter inches in diameter, is modelled and put 
on top of the calyx, which has first been criss- 
crossed and wet with slip. The cup for the candle 
is next hollowed out in the centre of the flower and 
calyx, raising the edge of the flower centre slightly 
above the surrounding petals. The candle cup 
should be a trifle larger than it will need to be 
when finished, as it shrinks somewhat in drying 
and firing, and the glaze, too, fills it up a little. 
Be sure, also, to have it deep enough to hold the 
candle. 

The base, stem, and handle are finished with a 
gray green mat -glaze (see Chapter V.), while the 
petals are white — the uncoloured mat-glaze. 



How to Make a Plaster 
Mould 



CHAPTER VII 

HOW TO MAKE A PLASTER MOULD 

In building pieces of pottery whose walls have 
a decided flare, a plaster mould will be found most 
useful. Its sides support the coils of clay and 
enable the potter to form his piece much more 
rapidly and surely than he could by eye, or even 
with the cardboard outline. 

It should, however, be used with judgment, 
rather as an aid in beginning a piece which is after- 
ward finished by eye than as a mould in which 
pieces are duplicated. Turning out many pieces 
exactly alike savours of commercialism and does 
not develop the potter's individuality. Several 
bowl-shaped moulds, varied in form and flare, if 
used as suggested, will be a great assistance to the 
potter. They are made quite easily, as follows: 

A Bowl-shaped Mould of Plaster 

Materials 6 or 8 pounds of clay, well mixed, 
required : A bowl, or mould in bowl shape, 
A dishpan full of plaster of paris, 

91 



92 How to Make Pottery 

A dishpan of water, 

A bag of ground flint, 

A piece of oilcloth 8 inches wide by i\ yards 

long, 
2 clothes pins, 
A stout cord or rope, 
A wooden wedge, 
A few drops of olive oil, 
The wooden modelling tools, 
The rectangular tool of sheet steel, 
A large hoe-shaped tool, 
A large kitchen spoon. 

Having chosen the bowl that you wish to copy, 
dust it with a cotton cloth in which ground flint 
is tied, and roll out a piece of clay two or more 
inches larger in diameter than the bottom of the 
bowl, and about an inch thick. Press this care- 
fully into the bottom, making sure that it touches 
everywhere. Now roll out several other pieces 
of the same thickness, large enough to reach from 
the upper edge of the bottom piece to the rim of 
the bowl, and four or five inches wide. The upper 
edge of the bottom piece having been cut even and 
wet with slip, these pieces are pressed down firmly 
and joined to it with the nail stroke before men- 
tioned. Great care is also taken to press these 
pieces against the sides of the bowl. When the 
bowl is lined in this way with a coating of clay 
an inch or more in thickness at every point close 



How to Make a Plaster Mould 93 

against its walls, the clay is smoothed evenly on 
top, on a line with the rim of the bowl (using the 
rectangular tool of sheet steel) and set outside to 
harden. 

When somewhat firm, the bowl is filled in with 
clay until only a space the size of a man's hand 
is left in the middle. It is then set away, this 
time over night, to harden. 

The next day the clay will have dried and shrunk 
sufficiently to enable the potter to slip it out of the 
mould. Any cracks or hollows that may be found 
on the outside are wet with slip and filled in with 
clay of the consistency of the piece. After the 
clay is quite dry, the form of the mould should be 
made perfectly true by hand (using the oval sheet- 
steel tools) or on the wheel. If the latter method 
is chosen, place the clay mould bottom side up 
on the wheel, centre it (according to the directions 
in Chapter III), and, taking a large hoe-shaped 
tool, hold it firmly, bracing the hand still better 
with a stick laid across from a plaster mould, or 
other convenient object, on the table, to one's lap. 
Having set the wheel in motion, hold the dull point 
of the tool so that it just touches the wall of the 
mould, near the wheel. Move the point up very 
slightly with each revolution of the wheel — this 



94 



How to Make Pottery 



will trim and perfect the sides. The bottom is 
made even in the same way. Now wash the wheel 
outside of the mould carefully and oil it with olive 
oil. Take a piece of heavy oilcloth, about eight 
inches wide and long enough to reach around the 
wheel, overlapping about a foot. Placing it with 
the right side in, draw it tightly and fasten with 
clothes pins (see Fig. 33). Next tie a rope or 

stout cord around the 
oilcloth, about on a 
level with the wheel, 
and, to make it more 
secure, wedge it with 
a piece of wood. Roll 
strips of clay about 
the diameter of a 
lead pencil, and stop the 
cracks where the oilcloth overlaps, also between the 
oilcloth and the wheel, very carefully, so as not to 
touch the clay mould. Be careful, from now on, 
not to move the wheel until the mould is made. 
Now mix your plaster of paris, as follows: Have 
an empty basin or dishpan, large enough to hold 
the quantity necessary for the mould — you will 
learn to judge this pretty well by eye. Put in as 
much water as you will need, and sift gradually 




Fig. 33 



How to Make a Plaster Mould 95 

into it, by the handfuls, the dry plaster, pressing 
out all lumps; in this way the water will reach 
every particle. When there is a small island of 
plaster, about an inch above the surface of the 
water, there will be enough. Let the plaster get 
thoroughly saturated by the water, as it will in a 
few minutes ; then mix with the hands or a large 
spoon until it is the consistency of* thick cream. 
Pour it gradually around and over the clay mould, 
not all in one place, until it is about an inch and a 
half or two inches above the bottom of it. Let 
it set for an hour or more until it seems perfectly 
hard. The oilcloth is then taken off, and with 
the dull point of the hoe-shaped tool the bottom 
is trimmed true on the wheel, in the same way as 
the wheel-made pottery is finished. The sides 
should also be smoothed and made even with the 
straight-edged sheet-steel tool. It then looks like 
a great frosted cake. When the plaster is hard 
and set, the mould is taken from the wheel and 
reversed, so that the clay may be removed. To 
do this, dig out the inside of the clay mould with 
a large sheet -steel tool, taking care not to come 
near the plaster, which would be injured by the 
steel. The shell of clay remaining can be easily 
lifted out with the fingers. 



9 6 



How to Make Pottery 



One who does not own a wheel can make a 
mould by setting the clay bowl, bottom up, in 
the centre of a small shallow bread or dish pan, 
which must then be well oiled on its inner surface. 
The plaster of paris is mixed and poured around 
and over the clay mould, as already described. 
If one uses a great deal of clay, plaster basins 

may be made for drying 
out the superfluous 
water from the clay 
after it has been mixed. 
These are moulded in 
the form shown in Fig. 
34, the straight - sided 
circular cavity in the 
centre being about three 
inches deep, and the 
whole slab perhaps sixteen inches square. The 
basin part, like the bowl-shaped mould just de- 
scribed, is first formed in solid clay, and the 
mould is made in the same manner. 

Plaster slabs, both round and square, to hold 
the pieces of pottery while they are being made 
and dried, may also be moulded. 




Fig. 34 



How to Make a Plaster Mould 97 

Rose-Bowl Started in a Mould 

Materials A bowl-shaped mould of plaster, 3^ inches in 
required : diameter at the bottom and 9 J inches at 

the top, 

About 3 J pounds of clay, 

A bag of ground flint, 

The wooden modelling tools, 

The oval tools of sheet steel, 

The sharp-pointed steel tool, 

A bowl of slip, 

A small sponge, 

A rolling-pin. 

A charming rose-bowl may be built up in the 
plaster mould described in this chapter. About 
three and a half pounds of well-worked clay will 
be needed, and the usual tools. 

A small lump of clay is first patted out with the 
hands on a table or board, then rolled smooth 
with a rolling-pin until it is three-eighths of an 
inch thick and about six inches across. This is 
laid into the bottom of the mould, which has 
previously been dusted with ground flint tied in 
a cotton cloth. The clay is pressed lightly, but 
carefully, against the bottom and sides, and then 
made even at its upper edge with a wooden tool. 
Strokes of the wooden modelling tool, cutting this 
upper edge criss-cross, and a touch of slip, prepare 
it for the first roll of clay, which is made and at- 



98 How to Make Pottery 

t ached as described in Chapter II. These coils 
need not be as thick as those used in making the 
first pieces. As the worker gains experience, he 
can make the walls of his pieces much lighter than 
at first, and still keep them strong. Subsequent 
coils are joined in the same way, taking care to 
press each against the wall of the mould, as well 
as upon the coil beneath. When the sides of the 
bowl are covered, a coil is attached above the 
edge of the mould. This should be almost ver- 
tical, instead of flaring, and a second coil (which 
is joined after the first has stiffened out-of-doors 
for twenty minutes) is brought in slightly toward 
the centre. The bowl is then left over night, 
when it will be quite dry and have shrunk suffi- 
ciently to slip easily out of the mould. It is turned 
bottom up on a table, and the cracks between the 
coils are wet with slip and carefully filled in with 
clay of the consistency of the bowl. After it has 
been set away to harden for a few hours, it is made 
smooth and even with the oval tools of sheet steel 
as described in previous chapters. In trimming 
the walls to an even thickness, they may be made 
comparatively thin — a little less than a quarter 
of an inch. Next the bottom is finished and 
the potter's mark made. The edge, after it 



How to Make a Plaster Mould 99 

has been bevelled by eye, is perfected on the 
ground-glass slab. 

The piece is now ready for its decoration. This 
is the design shown in Fig. 35 The circumference 
of the top of the bowl is divided into fifths, and 





Fig. 35 

marks are made in pencil half an inch below the 
rim. Just below each of these marks the design 
is drawn, placing it so that if a line were drawn 
straight down from the pencil mark, one of the 
oval figures would be on each side of it. The cen- 
tre of the design is pierced, as indicated in Fig 35, 
by the method described in Chapter IV., and a 
deep incised line surrounds it. 

A pale green mat-glaze (see Chapter V.) com- 
pletes the bowl. 






The Making of a Tile 



CHAPTER VIII 



THE MAKING OF A TILE 



The ancient Egyptians were prob.ably the first 
tile - makers. Some of their most remarkable 
pieces of enamel work are clay plaques or slabs, 
made as early as 1300 B. C. Figures of men and 
animals were drawn upon them, modelled in low 
relief, and coated with enamels, brilliant and beau- 
tiful in colour. 

In other tiles a kind of mosaic was made — a 
combination of fine clay and enamels, which were 
mixed into soft pastes. The design was modelled 
and fitted together in these coloured pastes, which, 
when they were fired, the heat fixed and vitrified. 
Again these cunning craftsmen left in the clay 
incisions forming a design. Into these settings, 
so to speak, small pieces of glass or enamel were 
fitted, and when fused into place by the heat of the 
kiln suggested jewels. 

Now-a-days our artist potters are designing 
and modelling tile for wall and floor decoration 

103 



104 



How to Make Pottery 



Fig. 36 



— whole mantels to match the colour scheme of 
a library or my lady's boudoir. 

To the uninitiated, 
the making of a tile 
seems almost too simple 
to learn — just a slab of 
clay, cut square and 
baked. Simple enough 
it is, to be sure, yet it 
has difficulties enough 
to make it interesting. 
Suppose we mould a 
tile and learn by experience just what the difficul- 
ties are and how to surmount them. 

The clay that is used 
in moulding tiles is the 
same as that of which 
the other pieces of pot- 
tery are made — i. e., a 
mixture of fire and ball 
or blue clay with the ad- 
dition of a large amount 
of what is called 
by potters, "grog." 
This is fire clay which after baking becomes pale 
yellow in colour and quite hard. It is pounded 




Fig. 37 



The Making of a Tile 105 

into pieces the size of a small pea, and smaller, 
and mixed thoroughly through the clay, to act 
as a tempering agent. Mould in as much of the 
"grog" as the clay will hold. Too much will 
make it lose its plasticity and separate into small 
lumps, but short of this the more "grog" the tile 
clay contains the better, as, being baked and 
shrunken, it minimises the chances of cracking 
by shrinkage. 

In making a tile, the following materials will be 
required : 

About 4% pounds of tile clay, 

A level board, about 15 by 20 inches, 

A frame made by screwing a strip of wood, 
I of an inch thick by 2 inches wide and 21 
inches long, on each of the long edges of a 
board, 14$ inches wide by 21 inches long, 

3 pieces of white cheese-cloth, 15 by 21 inches, 

A rolling-pin, 

The rectangular sheet-steel tool, 

A T square or a piece of sheet metal, 8 by 8 
inches, 

A strong, sharp knife, 

A bowl of slip, 

The boxwood modelling tools, 

The pointed- steel tool, 

The steel tool with flat point. 

To begin with, a large piece of tile clay is worked 
until all the air-holes are out of it, as already de- 
scribed. 



io6 



How to Make Pottery 




A wooden board which is absolutely level, having 

previously been covered with a piece of wet, white 

cheese-cloth, which is 
tacked securely upon it, 
the clay is moulded into 
a square by hand and 
laid upon the board. 
It is then pounded flat 
with the thick part of 
the hand into an irregu- 
lar square cake, and 
rolled with a rolling-pin, 

wet with slip, until it is a little less than half an 

inch thick. 

A wooden frame made 

of a board fourteen and 

a half inches wide by 

twenty-one inches long, 

with a strip of wood 

the same length, seven- 
eighths of an inch thick 

when planed, and two 

inches wide, screwed on 

Fig. 39 
to each of the long 

edges, should have been provided beforehand. A 

piece of wet cheese-cloth is spread upon this board, 




The Making of a Tile 



107 




and the clay square is carefully transferred to it, 
fitting it carefully into the form by patting and 
pressing with the hand. 
It should then be 
smoothed with the rec- 
tangular tool of sheet 
steel. 

The tile must now be 
reinforced for the reason 
that the outer edge, 
which dries and shrinks 
first, would naturally Fig. 40 

crack when the inside finally dried and shrank, and 
so spoil the tile. When reinforced, the edges, being 

double thickness, dry 
more slowly, making the 
whole tile shrink evenly. 
Six pieces of clay are 
rolled into as many 
rope-like strips. Five 
of these strips are pat- 
ted flat with the hand 
until they are about an 
inch and a half wide 




Fig. 41 



and not quite half an inch thick. They are then 
laid along the outer edges of the tile, which have 



108 How to Make Pottery 

first been lightly brushed with slip, and across the 
middle (see Fig. 36), pressing them firmly onto the 
tile and joining the edges carefully. The sixth strip 
is cut into two short pieces, which are laid in at the 
centre, between the three strips crossing the tile 
(see Fig. 36), and firmly attached by moulding 
them against the other strips and working the edges 
on to the tile upon which a touch of slip has been 
brushed. A damp piece of cheese-cloth is laid on 
the tile and it is again rolled with the rolling-pin. 
Next it is made smooth with the sheet- steel tool, 
and the four depressions are moulded evenly, as 
shown in Fig. 37. It is then set away over night, 
to get in proper condition to cut and finish. 

The following day put a board on the bottom of 
the tile and reverse the frame so that the tile will 
slide off on to the board. Then with a T square or 
a piece of sheet metal eight by eight inches (the size 
of the tile) laid upon it, cut around the edges with 
a sharp, strong knife. The tile is then set away 
to receive its decoration, which should be made the 
day following. 

Care should always be taken to lay the tile only 
upon an absolutely level board or other fiat surface 
in drying, as otherwise it will warp and dry un- 
evenly. 



The Making of a Tile 



109 




OO 



Fig. 42 



Having chosen a simple design — for example, the 

one shown in Fig. 38 — draw it upon the tile in pencil. 

Next go over the lines 

with the pointed tool of 

boxwood, and with a 

curved pointed wooden 

tool incise the outline 

still deeper. Make a 

clean-cut, firm outline, 

broad and deep, with a 

bevelled edge. This is, 

of course, supposing 

that the tile has not become very dry, in which 

case the tool used should be the pointed steel one, 

finishing with the wood- 
en tool. The whole 
design should be deeply 
incised with firm, sure 
strokes. The pieces of 
"grog" which the tool 
will run against now 
and then will not injure 
the outline if the hand 
is firm. Should one by 

mistake cut away more of the design than was 

intended, it can easily be repaired with a touch of 




Fig. 43 



no How to Make Pottery 

slip and a small piece of clay, the consistency of 
the tile, worked in with the pointed steel tool. 

The portions of the design which are indicated by 
dots in Fig. 38 are depressed with the flat-pointed 
steel tool, according to the method for leaving the 
design in low relief, described in Chapter IV. Be- 
fore setting the tile away to dry for the last time, 
the potter incises his mark on the back. A dull 
yellow mat-glaze or a gray green one (see Chapter 
V.) will finish it attractively. 

A tile such as this, eight inches square, is rather 
large for some purposes ; it is, however, most effec- 
tive as a decoration, and may do practical service in 
holding a flower-pot or vase of flowers — protecting 
a table or wooden mantel from moisture. 

Fireplace tiles are, of course, considerably 
smaller, and those for use on a table are lighter as 
well. They are made by the same process, only 
using a smaller frame and rolling the clay thinner. 

Some designs for tiles are shown in Figs. 39, 40, 
41, 42, and 43. 



The Kiln 



CHAPTER IX 



THE KILN 



Pottery, until it is fired, has little or no practical 
value. One who owns a piece of Gay Head ware, 
made in Martha's Vineyard, and called by the name 
of the bluffs of whose clay it is made, will ap- 
preciate this. Though charming in colour, a 
terra-cotta background with swirling lines of pale 
yellow, black and white, it can only be put in one 
spot — on the highest shelf, out of reach of children 
and others who like to "look with their hands." 
If it were baked, the colour which is its chief 
charm would be lost, and it is therefore so fragile 
that a rude touch will break or deface it. In the 
early days of pottery -making, when utility was 
everything, pots for cooking and domestic pur- 
poses were baked either before the fire, or covered 
with bark and other burning fuel, which hardened 
the clay and made it strong enough for service. 
We do not find traces of kilns, however, among the 
relics of those early potters. 

"3 



ii4 How to Make Pottery 

Probably the first people to use the kiln were the 
old Egyptians. 

One which is represented in their mural paintings 
was a high, circular chamber made of brick. The 
floor, near the bottom, was perforated, and beneath 
it was the fuel, which was put in through an open- 
ing on the side. 

The kiln used by the early Greek potters had a 
place for fuel on one side, and an upper chamber for 
the pieces of pottery, with a door through which 
it could be put in and withdrawn. This differed 
from the Egyptian kiln only in having a dome. 

Many of the kilns of the present day are 
shaped almost exactly like those used by the early 
Greeks. So important a part does the kiln play in 
perfecting a piece of pottery — putting the final 
touch upon it : the touch that shall make or mar — 
that the potter realises he must plan, before any- 
thing else, either to own a good kiln or to know of 
one where his pieces can be sent to be fired. Un- 
less one wishes to make pottery on a large scale, as 
a business, the expense and care of owning one's 
own kiln is unnecessary. There are makers of art 
pottery near the principal cities who for a reason- 
able amount will fire one's pieces admirably, and 
with much less risk than an amateur could possibly 



The Kiln 



"5 



do them — that is, providing one uses the 
same kind of clay as is employed by the 
owners of the kiln where one's pottery is to be 
fired. If not, this clay can usually be purchased 
at the pottery ready 
mixed at slight ex- 
pense. Even though 
one may not care to 
assume the cost and 
responsibility of 
owning a kiln, it 
may be of interest 
to know something 
of the construction 
of kilns and how 
they do their work. 

THE OPEN-FIRE KILN 

The open-fire kiln 
is preferred by many 
potters. Such kilns 
have been used for 
generations by pot- 
ters in England ; and 
for ware that needs hard firing they have 
proved most reliable. Fig. 44 shows the in- 




Fig. 44 
A is the chamber for the 



pottery. 

B the fireboxes. 



B 

CC the firebacks. 

DDDDD the passage and 
outlets through which the 
heat enters the kiln. 



n6 



How to Make Pottery 



terior of one of these kilns, and Fig. 45 the 
ground plan. From these diagrams one can get an 
idea of the principle on which such kilns are run. 
This kiln is built mostly of fire-brick, and should be 
under cover for more than one reason. First, there 
is no danger from frost if the kiln is inclosed by a 

wooden building, and 
then it is more conven- 
ient for the potter to do 
his work where he is not 
exposed to the weather. 
The kiln is circular, 
built on a foundation of 
brick or stone, and 
strengthened with bands 
of wrought iron. At all 
four sides of the central 




Fig. 45 
AAA A are the fire-boxes. 



BBBBBBBBBBBB the pas- „t,™v or . ml, r Q +^ .nt 
sages for the hot air. P chamber, where the pot- 

CCCCC the outlets for the tery is placed, are fire- 
hot air. J F 

boxes where the coal is 

fed on to a grate below the level of the floor of 
the chamber. The hot air from the fire - boxes 
finds two outlets, one through a direct escape, 
close to the box, the other through a passage 
and out at the centre of the floor. Within the cen- 
tral chamber are piled the saggers — great circular 



The Kiln 117 

boxes or drums made of fire- clay — all of which, 
if possible, contain pottery, but, whether full 
or empty, they must fill up the chamber, as 
their clay holds and radiates heat which would 
otherwise be lost. The office of the saggers is 
to protect the pieces of pottery from direct 
contact with the flame, smoke, and. ashes of 
the fire. 

The heat from the fire-boxes, if it rushed directly 
into the kiln, would fire the pieces near the bottom 
of the chamber too hard, so slabs of fire-brick, called 
firebacks, are arranged so as to send the heat up 
(see Fig. 44). It then, passing up between the 
saggers (which, stacked one above the other, form 
flues to improve the draught) , passes off at the top 
opening. This aperture, as will be seen in Fig. 44, 
has a slab supported by bricks above it to control 
the draught. The heat escapes through the cone, 
and thus through the chimney. The cone is made 
of ordinary bricks, and its office is to help the 
draught. There is another kind of kiln much like 
this model, except that it has a down draught. 
The heated air, as it escapes, passes down through 
an opening in the floor, along a horizontal pass- 
age, up and out. This keeps the heat in the kiln 
for a longer time, but it also confines the gases, 



n8 How to Make Pottery 

which affect the colour of the ware so that it is not 
practicable for art pottery. 

Seen from the outside on a day when the kiln is 
being filled, its aspect is quite different. Inside 
the great brick chamber, workmen are stacking the 
saggers filled with pieces of pottery, some of which, 
not yet packed, are standing on tables near at hand. 
They look wan and pale, faint grayish- green, or 
leaden gray. Not until they have felt the fierce 
heat of the kiln will they glow with living green or 
will the beauty of their blues appear. Yellow that 
is almost orange seems to be only a deep cream 
colour before it is fired. Then there are pieces of 
green, or unbaked clay, to be fired in the biscuit — 
that is, without the glaze. These are put in another 
part of the kiln. 

Just a word about the saggers. These huge, rough 
boxes of burnt fire-clay, whose office has already 
been spoken of, are sometimes bottomless, simply 
rings. Should a sagger be too low to contain a 
piece that is placed in it (as is often the case), one 
can build up the clay-box to the required height 
with the bottomless saggers. Between every two 
saggers rolls of clay are laid (coiled around the 
edge) to hold them together. When the kiln is 
filled at last with its stacks of saggers, the doorway 



The Kiln 119 

is bricked up and the fire started. The open-fire 
kiln requires the best part of three days to 
complete it. The first day it is filled with pot- 
tery and the fire started. In firing a kiln, the heat 
should be raised very slowly. All that night the 
fire is watched and fed, as it must be kept at the 
requisite temperature, for if it gets low, or, as the 
potters say, "slips," the glaze is spoiled and the 
pottery must all be reglazed and fired again. The 
weather affects the kiln, the draught not being so 
good on a damp or rainy day as on a fair one ; and 
the coal also must be specially chosen for the kiln. 
It takes several tons to fire one kiln, so that the 
success or failure of a firing is no light matter. The 
second day much attention must be given to keep- 
ing the fire up, and at about nightfall the guides are 
drawn as follows: 

At equal distances around the kiln are four peep- 
holes — small, round apertures on a level with the 
eye, which are closed with a cylindrical tube having 
a transparent asbestos end. In the glare of the 
kiln, directly on a line with these peep-holes, one can 
see a row of clay rings, which were daubed with 
glaze before the fire was started. Having with- 
drawn the cylinder which closes the hole, the potter 
runs in a long metal rod, with a hook on the end, 



120 



How to Make Pottery 



catches a ring, and draws it out. He can tell from 
the appearance of this ring, or guide, how the kiln 
is firing and about when the pieces will be done. 

Usually they are 
finished that night, 
but the kiln is not 
opened until it has 
cooled for many 
hours. 

THE MUFFLE KILN 

The muffle kiln is 
shown in Fig. 46. 

This fires at a low 
degree of heat, com- 
pared with the open- 
fire kiln. It is 
mostly used for 
under-glaze pottery 
and for glazing. In 
this kiln the fire 
could not come in 
direct contact with 
the ware, so that 
saggers are unnecessary; instead, there is a 
system of shelves upon which the pottery is placed. 




Fig. 46 

A is the muffle-box or chamber 

for the pottery. 
B B B B B B B are the arches 

supporting the box and other 

parts of the kiln. 
C C The doors where the fuel 

and pottery respectively are 

put in. 
D D D The^ passages for the 

heated air. 
E The ash-pan. 



The Kiln 121 

The fuel, which may be wood, is fed through a door 
on one side of the lower part of the kiln, with an 
ash-box below. A brick arch supports the muffle- 
box or chamber where the pottery is placed. On 
the opposite side from the furnace door is the open- 
ing through which the pieces are put into the kiln. 
This is carefully bricked up before the fire is started. 
The hot air passes through a passage extending 
around all sides and above the box, and the out- 
let is over the door where the pottery goes in. 
A slab extending nearly across this outlet controls 
the draught. 



Basket-Covered Pottery 



CHAPTER X 

BASKET-COVERED POTTERY 

There has always been a close connection be- 
tween pottery and basketry. Those who study 
Indian handicrafts learn that pottery was evolved 
from basketry in the long ago. Neltje Blanchan 
suggests that it may have happened in some such 
way as this: "Perhaps a hunter returned home 
hungry one day . . . and his wife, anxious to 
hasten dinner for her impatient lord, coated her 
cooking - basket with clay that she might set it 
directly over the fire without danger of burning. 
Imagine the woman's surprise and joy to find, on 
removing it from the embers after dinner, that she 
had a basket plus an earthenware pot!" 

The two crafts have helped each other from that 
day to this. The Indian woman suspends her 
earthen cooking- jar with coils of wild grapevine, 
which ever and anon she smears with wet clay when 
the flames come too near. Japanese craftsmen 
enmesh their pottery jars with wistaria stems to 
125 



126 How to Make Pottery 

protect them from breakage, or to suspend them 
against the wall, where growing plants or trailing 
vines may fill them to overflowing. Even the little 
ginger jar one buys for a few cents in Chinatown 
has its case and handle of pliant cane. 

Charming things may be made for the beautify- 
ing of one's own or another's house if one knows 
something of the two crafts. A few of them are 
described in the following pages : 

Indian Pottery Bowl Suspended with Raffia 

Materials An Indian pottery bowl in white and Indian 
required : red, 6 inches in diameter at the top, 

A bunch of Indian red raffia, 

A curtain ring, 

A tapestry needle Xo. 18. 

Any one who has made raffia hats with the knots 
that our mothers used to call macrame in the early 
eighties, will see by a glance at the plate how the 
network of raffia which incloses this bowl is 
fashioned. The bowl is the first consideration. It 
may be bought at an Indian store for about a dollar; 
or, if one prefers, one can mould one's own bowl of 
flower-pot clay. In that case, however, the white 
background which is so effective in the Indian ware 
will be missed. 

To begin with: Thread a Xo. 18 tapestry needle 






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H .S 



-2 S 

c £ 

.2 H3 

-a jj 

re w 



Basket-Covered Pottery 



127 



with a strand of Indian red raffia. Twist the end 
three or four times around the middle and fore- 
finger of the left hand, and cover the small ring 
thus made with button-hole stitches. The ring 
should be about an inch in diameter. 

Finish off the end of the raffia by sewing several 
stitches through and through 
the ring. Pin this ring to 
a cushion on one's lap or to 
some firm, soft object near 
at hand. Take two strands 
of raffia, double them 
around the ring, and with 
the four ends thus made 
tie a Solomon's knot as 
follows : Hold the two upper 
strands straight and taut. 
Bend the under strand on 
the left across them to the 
right (see Fig. 47), and bring the under strand 
on the right over the end of the left strand, back of 
the middle strands, and through the loop made 
by the left strand in starting. Another pair of 
strands is knotted on in the same way, and 
another, until there are thirteen groups around 
the ring. Beginning anywhere on the ring, the 




Fig. 47 



128 How to Make Pottery 

strands on the right of a group are brought 
beside the two on the left of the group to the 
right of it, and the middle pair of the four are 
held straight down, while the strands on the right 
and left are knotted upon them as already de- 
scribed. This knot should be about half an inch 
from those in the previous row. Make a double 
knot this time — that is, repeat the process already 
described. Take the strand which was on the left 
after the first knot was tied, bring it over the middle 
strands to the right, and after bringing the strand 
on the right over the end of the left one and back 
of the middle strands, pass it up through the loop 
made by the left strand in starting. The two 
strands at the right of the right-hand group are 
next knotted in the same way with two on the left 
of the next group to the right, and so it goes on 
around the net — making a double Solomon's knot 
each time. 

Five rows more of this knotting are made, each 
row being half an inch from the previous one, except 
the fifth, which is three-quarters of an inch from 
the fourth. Now bring all the strands from three 
groups together at an inch and three-quarters from 
the last row of knotting. Hold the middle one of 
the three groups taut, and tie the strands to right 



Basket-Covered Pottery '129 

and left upon it in a Solomon's knot. Tie another 
knot close to the first one, and another, until there 
are seven — one below the other. Three more 
groups are brought together at an inch and three- 
quarters from the last row of knotting, and tied in 
the same way. Then another three. The fourth 
bunch will have four groups of strands *in it (as 
there were thirteen groups in all at starting) . Two 
of these groups, the middle ones, are held taut, and 
those to left and right are tied upon this double 
group as the others were. Then, taking the long 
ends of one of these bunches, tie them again in three 
Solomon's knots at an inch and three-quarters from 
the seventh knot. They are next brought straight 
down without knotting, for two inches more, when 
two knots are made. For two and three-quarter 
inches more they are brought without knotting, 
then tied and wound around a large ring — an old 
curtain ring about two inches in diameter will do. 
When all four bunches have been knotted in the 
same way, and the ends of all have been fastened 
securely to the curtain ring, the ring is covered 
neatly with button-hole stitch in raffia, and 
a raffia binding about half an inch wide is 
made just below the ring, where the strands are 
fastened to it. 



130 How to Make Pottery 

Green Pottery Jar Inclosed and Suspended with 
Brown Rattan 

Materials The Pottery Jar: About 2 J pounds of clay, 
required? The wooden modelling tools, 

The rectangular tool of sheet steel, 

The pointed steel tool, 

A bowl of slip, 

A small sponge, 

The Basket Covering: About six lengths of 
No. 4 deep-brown rattan, 

A piece of fine but strong wire 24 inches long, 

A pair of pliers, 

A bunch of deep-brown raffia. 

Around the quaint and attractive hanging jar 
from which this one is copied is woven a tale as 
curious as its covering of knotted brown twigs. It 
is this: the rectangular green jar, which looks like 
a pottery box, was once the casket in which some 
Chinese lady kept her pomades and perfumes. 
When she slept, her head, which had been dressed 
most elaborately with the aforesaid pomades, was 
laid upon this same pottery box for a pillow — 
another instance of the painfulness of pride in 
China ! 

How strange the little Chinese lady would think 
it of us to use her earthen pillow as we do — for a 
hanging flower- jar! Who covered it with knotted 
wistaria twigs ? I should suspect it was some deft- 



Basket-Covered Pottery 131 

fingered Japanese — though the jar was bought in 
Hawaii. 

It will not be very difficult to copy. First there 
is the box-like jar to be made. A rectangular bot- 
tom is cut from a well-worked lump of clay after 
it has been patted flat with the hand and rolled 
with the rolling-pin. It should be five by three 
and a half inches — which allows an inch on length 
and breadth for shrinkage. Upon this foundation 
coils of clay are built, as described in previous 
chapters, making them thinner, however, than 
usual — not over a quarter of an inch thick. As the 
walls are built they should be finished carefully 
inside and out, keeping them straight and true at 
the corners, as well as on all sides. When the jar 
is seven and a quarter inches high, the top is 
made even by eye and perfected on the ground- 
glass slab, as described in Chapter II. A rectan- 
gular piece of clay is then rolled and cut the size of 
the bottom ; an oval piece about two by three inches 
is cut out of the middle, with the pointed steel tool, 
and it is left on a plaster slab to stiffen for half an 
hour. The upper edge of the jar is then criss- 
crossed with the pointed steel tool and wet with 
slip, and this flat top is attached to it deftly and 
carefully. After drying for several hours, it may 



132 How to Make Pottery 

be finished with the sheet -steel tool, the shape per- 
fected, and the surface dampened with a sponge 
and polished with the fingers. When it has dried 
for several days it is coated with a glossy green 
glaze and fired. 

The covering of knotted rattan is made as fol- 
lows: Six pliable lengths of No. 4 brown rattan 
are needed for this covering. They must be care- 
fully selected, for as they are to be tied they should, 
when wet, be almost as pliable as cord. It is not 
difficult to find them as soft as this, especially after 
they have been dyed. In starting, a length of rat- 
tan which has been wet until soft is tied around the 
jar at about half an inch from the top. The long 
end is twisted once around this foundation ring. 
This may be done off of the jar if it is easier. When 
the ring has been replaced on the jar, two pieces 
of very pliable rattan about sixty inches long are 
doubled around the ring at the middle of the front 
of the jar and tied in a Solomon's knot, as already 
described (see Fig. 47). The second part of the knot, 
however, is not tied as the raffia was in making the 
knotted covering for the Indian bowl. Instead, 
the end which is on the right after the first knot 
has been tied is brought over to the left, above the 
middle strands, and the one on the left, coming 



Basket-Covered Pottery 



133 



down over its end, goes back of the middle strands 
and up through the loop left in starting the right 
strand (see Fig. 48). Another pair of strands of 
the same length is tied in this way around 
the ring at the middle of the back of the 
jar, and a pair at either end. The strands 
at the right of the knot in the middle of the 
front are then brought beside those at the 
left of the group on 
the right end, and 
these are knotted as 
just described, at 
about an inch and 
three - quarters from 
the first row, and at 
the corner of the jar. 
The remaining strands 
of the group on the right end are knotted with 
those at the left of the group in the middle of 
the back, and so on around the jar. There 
will then be four knots, all an inch and three- 
quarters from the first row, and each at a 
corner of the jar. Three more rows of knot- 
ting are made in the same way, and then the 
four ends remaining at the front and back after the 
fifth row of knots has been made are wet with warm 




Fig. 48 



134 How to Make Pottery 

water until very pliable and tied together under the 
jar. Those from the sides are tied in the same 
manner and at the same place. All the ends are 
bound securely just below these knots with fine 
wire, and over this an inch-wide band of raffia. 
The ends are cut irregular lengths, the longest 
not more than fourteen inches from the bottom 
of the jar. 

A handle is then made as follows: 

A piece of pliable brown rattan, No. 4, about two 
yards long, is wet until soft and passed around the 
knot nearest the top at one end of the jar. The 
ends are brought together and twisted for their 
entire length. At the opposite end of the jar they 
are brought around the knot nearest the top, turned 
up, and firmly bound to the handle with a piece 
of wire, which may then be covered with a binding 
of raffia. 

Take care to make this wire binding secure, for 
this is the place where the greatest strain comes. 
It is in such places as this that the Oriental crafts- 
men show their superiority. Their ends, thus 
bound, are bound to stay, while ours sometimes 
slip. 



Basket-Covered Pottery 135 

Jar of Flemish Pottery Inclosed with Pale-Green 
Rattan 

Materials A jar of Flemish pottery, 4 inches high, ?.\ 
required : inches in diameter at the bottom and 1 inch 

at the top, 
About six lengths of No. 00 green rattan. 

A little jar of quaint Flemish pottery t charming 
in form and colour, is the foundation of this piece. 
This ware, which is just becoming known to us, is 
interesting in many ways. First of all, for its own 
sake — the attractive shapes: candlesticks, bowls, 
jugs, jars, and tiles all have the stamp of individu- 
ality, rare in any ware that is within reach of the 
average purse. The colours are beautiful — deep 
greens and blues, soft browns and dull orange for 
the most part. Some of the pieces are made by 
Belgian school children, others in potteries started 
by a club of men in Belgium, followers of Ruskin, 
who have revived the craft, employing only Bel- 
gians to design and mould the ware. The old 
methods are carefully followed — the pieces are 
wheel-made, not formed in moulds. Much of the 
decoration is done by boys, who make a charming 
picture, clad in blouses and sabots, their young 
faces all interested and absorbed in the work. 

The open - meshed weave of pale-green rattan 



136 How to Make Pottery 

with which this jar is inclosed only slightly veils 
the colour of the glaze — deep-green at the base, 
shading through blue to a soft mousy-brown at 
the top. The covering is made as follows: 

One end of a piece of green No. 00 rattan twenty- 
seven inches long is tied into a ring two inches 
and a half in diameter. Around this foundation 
ring the long end of the rattan is twisted in and 
out, until it has made the circuit twice — three 
times, counting the foundation ring. Some very 
pliable lengths of No. 00 green rattan are cut into 
twenty pieces thirty-two inches long. They are 
wet until quite soft, and then two of them are 
doubled around the ring and tied with a Solomon's 
knot (see Fig. 47). Another pair is doubled and 
knotted upon the ring, and another, until ten 
groups have been attached at intervals around the 
circumference. Starting with any one of the 
groups, the two strands on the right are brought be- 
side the two on the left of the group to the right of 
it, and knotted together as described on page 132. 
at three-quarters of an inch from the first row of 
knots. The two remaining strands of the right- 
hand group are brought beside those on the left of 
the next group to the right, where another knot is 
made, and so on, until the circuit is complete. One 



Basket-Covered Pottery 137 

more row of knots is made in the same way, three- 
quarters of an inch from those in the previous row. 
The whole network is then wet thoroughly and 
fitted over the lower part of the jar, tying it if neces- 
sary, to mould the rattan in to the form. At about 
an inch and a half from the last row of knots, a 
row of pairing is made with a very pliable piece of 
No. 00 green rattan. For the benefit of those who 
may not know this simple basket weave, the fol- 
lowing directions are given: 

Holding the jar with its partial covering of rat- 
tan right side up, draw the ends of the strands 
remaining after the last row of knots was tied, close 
up against the sides of the jar. Double the pliable 
piece of No. 00 rattan around a pair of ends which 
formed the middle strands of one of the knots. 
Taking the upper half of the piece, which seems to 
come from behind the two strands (to the left 
of them), bring it over them, under the next pair 
and out in front. Hold down, with the left hand, 
the end you have just used, while with the right 
bring the other end (which was on the right of the 
first pair of strands) over the next pair of strands 
on the right and under the next. It is now held 
down in front, while the process is repeated — 
always taking the end on the left to weave with. 



138 



How to Make Pottery 



The doubled strands, or spokes, on which these 
stitches are woven, should be drawn close together, 
till not more than a sixteenth of an inch apart, so 
that they will cling to the jar. When the circuit 
of the jar has been made, another row is woven. 
At the end of this second row both of the weaving 
strands are cut, so that their ends will come back 
of the last pair of strands in the circuit. For half 
an inch the strands are 
drawn up toward the top of 
the jar without weaving; 
then, one row more of the 
pairing is made, and after 
thoroughly wetting the ends 
of the vertical strands the 
following border is woven: 
Bring each pair of strands 
over the next three on the 
right under the succeeding 
two and outside of the jar. The entire circuit of the 
border is made in this way, only leaving the first 
part of it loose and open, so that the last strands 
can be woven in easily. When finished, the border 
is again wet, and its edge made even and true, on 
a line with the top of the jar or slightly above it. 
The ends of the strands are then cut close to the jar, 




Basket-Covered Pottery 139 

so as to allow each to lie back of the last strand it 
went under. If the covering stands out from the 
jar — does not cling as it ought, it should be thor- 
oughly wet and bound around with string or raffia, 
and firmly tied, until it is dry. Fig. 49 shows the 
completed covering. 

Green Pottery Bowl with Covering and % Handles of 
Green Rattan 

Materials A green pottery bowl 5I inches in diameter at 
required: the upper edge and 3^ at the bottom, 

30 pieces of pale-green No. 00 rattan 48 inches 
long, 

2 lengths of pale-green No. 00 rattan. 

This green bowl, inclosed with a knotted cover- 
ing of pale-green rattan, may be used as a hanging 
flower-pot or for cut flowers. The original was a 
piece of deep-green Spanish pottery, but if one can 
make the bowl, so much the better — as long as the 
dimensions are those given above. In starting, 
fifteen pieces of No. 00 green rattan which have 
been wet until quite soft and pliable are laid side 
by side in a group which is doubled at its centre, 
and the ends tied securely together, about two 
inches from where it was doubled. One group of 
ends, containing fifteen pieces, is made flat and 
even, and then separated into three groups of five 



140 - How to Make Pottery 

pieces each and braided in a three-stranded plait 
ten and a half inches long. It is then tied securely. 
The other group is separated and braided in the 
same way, keeping the strands flat and the plaiting 
close and even. Fifteen more pieces of rattan of 
the same size and length (which have been wet 
until pliable) are now passed through the loop 
made by doubling the other pieces, bent at the 
middle and tied as the others were, two inches 
from the place where they were doubled. 

The ends of these pieces are also braided in two 
plaits for ten and a half inches and then tied 
firmly. 

Holding the braids so that the ends of the strands 
turn up, and starting at about two inches from 
where the braiding stops, a pliable piece of No. oo 
rattan is doubled around the pair of ends on the 
left of one of the groups, and is woven in pairing 
upon these ends and those succeeding them — keep- 
ing them about half an inch apart. As there is an 
uneven number of ends in each group, the fifteenth 
one is brought beside the first end in the next group, 
and the pairing woven upon them (see Fig. 50). 
Thus it goes on, until the circuit has been made, 
when the bowl is fitted into the ring (the braided 
handles, of course, turning up ; and the ring about 



Basket-Covered Pottery 



141 



an inch below the top of the bowl). If the ring is 
too loose, the stitches may be wet and drawn up a 
little ; if too tight, they are wet and stretched. Two 
more rows are woven with the handles turning 
down ; then the work is reversed, so that the unfin- 
ished ends shall turn down. The ends are wet 
until soft and pliable, and at three-quarters of an 
inch from the last row of 
pairing they are tied 
into a row of the knots 
described on page 132. 
A second row of knots 
is made at an inch from 
the first. The case is 
then fitted over the 
bowl and wet if it is 
necessary in order to 
mould it in to fit the 
shape. Turn the bowl upside down, and at 
half an inch from the last row of knotting double a 
pliable piece of No. 00 rattan around a pair of ends 
anywhere on the circumference of the covering and 
weave one row of pairing, drawing the ends of the 
strands in, to fit the bottom of the bowl. This will 
bring them about three-eighths of an inch apart. 
Another row of pairing is woven, and then a base 




Fig. 50 



142 



How to Make Pottery 



is made as follows: After the ends have been wet 
until pliable, start with any one of the pairs, 
bringing it over the first pair on the right, under 
the second, over the third, and under the fourth, 
taking care to leave the base loose and open where 
it begins, that the last strands may be easily woven 
in (see Fig. 51). The next pair of ends on the right 
is woven in the same way over the first on its right, 

1= 




Fig. 5: 



under the second, over the third, and under the 
fourth. So it goes on around the bowl until the 
time comes to weave in the last strands, which 
will not be difficult if the caution in regard to leav- 
ing the beginning open and loose has been heeded. 
When the base is finished, wet it thoroughly, and 
draw up the strands or let them out until the edge 
is even and on a line with the bottom of the bowl. 



Basket-Covered Pottery 143 

The ends of the strands are then cut so that the 
tip of each will lie behind the last strand it went 
under. 

Three-Handled Bowl for Plants or Flowers 

Materials About 3$ pounds of clay, 
required; A plaster mould for a bowl, 

The wooden modelling tools, 

The oval tools of sheet steel, 

The sharp-pointed steel tool, 

A bunch of raffia. 

This charming bowl for a growing plant or cut 
flowers may either be used as a centrepiece on a 
table, or suspended by a heavy raffia braid in the 
recess of a window or on the porch. The dull gray- 
green mat -glaze with which it is finished harmon- 
ises delightfully with the colours of growing things. 

It is formed in a bowl-shaped plaster mould in the 
same way as the rose-bowl described in Chapter 
VII. and the bowl for a lamp in Chapter VI., but 
the bottom is made unusually thick (three-quarters 
of an inch) to allow for cutting away, as the form 
is as nearly a hemisphere as possible, only flattened 
slightly at the bottom. 

When the bowl has been built up to within an 
inch, perhaps, of the top of the mould, if it is not a 
deep one, make the next coil free from the sides of 



144 How to Make Pottery 

the mould — almost vertical, in fact The coil that 
succeeds it slopes in ever so slightly. 

This will make the shape deep enough. It is 
now necessary to let the bowl harden enough so 
that it can easily be slipped out of the mould. The 
hollows between the coils, after they have been wet 
with slip, are filled in with clay of the consistency 
of the bowl. The bowl is again set away to 
harden, and then smoothed and finished, as de- 
scribed in previous chapters, aiming to trim it as 
nearly as possible to the form of a half-sphere. 
After the edge has been cut as nearly true as possi- 
ble by eye, it is made 
absolutely even by the 
process described in 

.p Chapter II. 

Fig. 52 ^ 

Three handles are cut 
from a flat piece of clay about three inches 
wide by sixteen long and half an inch thick, 
in the shape shown in Fig. 52, and attached 
as follows: The circumference of the top of the 
bowl is divided into thirds and marked with a 
tool or pencil. It is then an easy matter to place 
the handles so that the centre of each shall be just 
above one of the marks on the top edge. At the 
points where the handles are to be attached, the 




Basket-Covered Pottery 145 

top of the bowl is criss-crossed with the pointed 
steel tool and wet with slip. The handles are then 
placed in position, and their edges worked closely 
against the top and sides of the bowl with the flat 
of the nail. They should be curved in a little to 
follow the lines of the bowl (see Plate). 

After the inside has been glazed with the glossy 
mixture mentioned in Chapter V., a mat -glaze of 
gray green will complete the bowl. The three 
raffia ropes by which the bowl is suspended are 
made as follows: 

Thirty strands of natural-coloured raffia are 
doubled around one of the handles, and the ends 
are braided in a three-stranded plait for twelve 
inches, where they are tied. Two other braids are 
made on the other handles in the same way, and 
when they are twelve inches long the strands from 
all three braids are united in a thick loop. 



Indian Pottery 



CHAPTER XI 



INDIAN POTTERY 



In no other country can primitive pottery be so 
conveniently studied as in ours. Within our 
borders, he who digs may read the history of clay- 
working from the earliest days. Those who are 
denied this study at first hand will find in museums 
plenty of material — quaint bowls and jars, some 
of them smoke- stained and cracked, but all wonder- 
fully well preserved when one thinks of their age. 
From the rudest pots, made by inferior tribes, we 
can trace the progress of the craft gradually 
advancing until, in the pottery found in or near 
Mexico, we see what may be considered the 
masterpieces of American ceramic art. 

In the United States, the pottery of the Pueblo 
tribes ranks first, and, close to that, the charming 
wares of the Mississippi Valley and Gulf Coast. 

There are many tribes which are still practising 
the craft, some following the old methods, while 
others, influenced by the white man, are making 
149 



150 How to Make Pottery 

ware of little interest to the student of primitive 
pottery. The Indians of the Pueblo country are 




Fig. 53 

using almost the same processes as those of 
ancient days. 

The pottery of different sections of the country 




Fig. 54 



varies in material, form, colour, and decoration. 
That the ware of a certain tribe was crude and im- 



Indian Pottery 



*5i 




Fig- 55 



perfect does not necessarily indicate that the 
people who made it were inferior in culture, but 
that the natural conditions were not tavourable to 
pottery - making. A 
tribe living near clay- 
beds would as natur- 
ally make good pot- 
tery as one around 
whose homes materials 
for basket -making 
grew in abundance 
would excel in that 
craft. Perhaps, on the 

whole, the pottery of the South is more advanced 
than that of the Northern tribes, probably because 

of the difference in 
climate. While the 
people of the North 
were wandering hunt- 
ers for the most part, 
those of the South were 
more prosperous and 
stay - at - home, and 
would be likely to have more wants than the 
Northern tribes, with leisure to gratify them. 
As to the uses to which the Indians put their 




Fig. 56 



152 How to Make Pottery 

pottery; most of the pieces show with simple 
straightforwardness what purposes they served. 
In only a few cases is there any doubt — notably 
some spool-shaped articles of clay, found in the 
Ohio Valley. At first, pottery was chiefly used 
for the storing, cooking, and carrying of water 
and food; taking the place, in some degree, of 
vessels of wicker, horn, and stone. This has 
always remained its most important function. 

Earthen vessels were 
employed in religious 
and other ceremonies, 
and earthen tools were 
often made, while there 
are, besides the myriads 
F IG . S7 of pipes, a host of small 

clay vessels and figures 
which were evidently toys or used in games 
(See Figs. 53 and 54). It is interesting to note the 
difference between our cooking-pots and those of 
this primitive people. Theirs have almost in- 
variably a round or cone-shaped base (See Fig. 55), 
which Prof. W. H. Holmes explains was natural, 
as, among barbarous nations, hard, level floors were 
the exception, while those of sand and soft earth 
were the rule. Under those conditions, the 




Indian Pottery 



153 



rounded base would be much the best. In putting 
the pot over the fire, the fuel or other supports 
kept it in position. Often cooking- vessels were 
made with short, strong handles (See Fig. 56) or a 
flaring rim, so that they could be conveniently 
swung over the fire with vines or cords. In 
certain parts of the country where the Indians 
made salt by evaporating the water from saline 
springs, large vat-shaped vessels of clay are found 




Fig. 58 

which were evidently moulded for the purpose. 
They are peculiar because of their size and the 
great thickness of the walls, while almost invari- 
ably they have, on the outer surface, markings 
which seem to have been impressed with a woven 
fabric. 

Other Indians made maple sugar, using earthen 
vessels to collect and boil the sap. 



154 



How to Make Pottery 



Numbers of the early writers tell of the use of 
clay vessels for drums, and earthen whistles and 
rattles are common to-day (see Figs. 57 and 58). 
A curious-shaped implement, somewhat like a 
toadstool, was evidently a modelling tool — to 
support the walls of a partially stiffened piece of 

pottery from within, 
while the outer surface 
was finished with other 
tools. 

In the lower Missis- 
sippi Valley clays were 
employed in plastering 
the walls of cave dwel- 
lings, as well as for the 
floors. 

As burial urns, pot- 
tery bowls and vases were often made use of. 
Not so often, however, for holding the ashes 
of the dead as for the skull and other bones, 
which were crowded into a single jar, or bowl, 
such as was common in the household. This 
was covered with a smaller vessel (see Fig. 59). 
Sometimes several of these bowls surrounded and 
covered the bones. Occasionally, an earthen 
casket seems to have been made especially for the 




Fig. 59 



Indian Pottery 155 

purpose. There have been found, beside these 
burial vessels in the Indian graves, smaller recep- 
tacles for food, and even rude toys. The latter 
were usually animal forms — figurines, images of 
fish, turtles, and birds. It is surmised that these 
were offerings made with the expectation of their 
being of service to the dead in a future life. 

Unlike the Egyptians, the Indians made little 
use of clay in moulding beads and other personal 




Fig. 60 

ornaments. They evidently did not find it gay 
enough in colour, not knowing the secret of the 
brilliant enamels with which the early Egyptian 
potters coated their clays. Pipes, while they were 
often made of stone and other substances, were in 
some parts of the country moulded from clay, and 
ranged in form from a simple tube to curious and 
grotesque shapes. Those made by the Iroquois 
were particularly elaborate — a head of an animal 



'56 



How to Make Pottery 



One would have 



or bird formed the bowl, or a snake coiled about it 
(see Fig. 60). 

thought that, in making 
their clay pots, which 
were primarily planned 
to serve useful purposes, 
and were, moreover, 
somewhat perishable, no 
attention would have 
been given to decora- 
tion; yet this is far 
from being the case. 
Bowls, cups, and cauld- 
rons, water - jars and 
bottles (see Figs. 61 and 
62) were often elaborately incised with beautiful 
and intricate designs. The forms, too, were simple 
and good. 

The clay used at first was such as could be found 
almost anywhere near the surface, and conse- 
quently was full of impurities. Later, however, clean 
clays were much sought after, and no pains were 
spared to grind and work them into good condition. 
This was done with the feet or hands, or both. 
As the craft advanced, potters began to temper 
their clay with other ingredients, according to the 




Fig. 61 








INDIAN POTTERY 

The black pitcher on the right is of Smta Clara ware, 
tenaja made by a Zufii. 



Beside it is a water-cooler or 



Indian Pottery 



i57 



use to which the vessel was to be put. For 
instance, the clay for toys and the smaller vessels 
needed no tempering. Pipes were made of such 
clay, or of one tempered with a finely ground 
substance, while cooking-pots and cauldrons, which 
were subjected to constant heat, were made of 
clay containing a large amount of coarser temper- 
ing ingredients. Some of the tempering agents 
were rock, sand, pulverised shell, bits of baked 
pottery, cinders, ashes 
of bark, and even raw 
vegetal materials. The 
heat at which the pieces 
were fired was rarely 
strong enough to 
change any of the min- 
eral substances in the 
clay. 

In shaping the pieces, 
the fingers did the work 
unaided, except where a 
basket or gourd was 
used as a mould, or 

where such simple tools as could be fashioned of 
clay, stone, or shell were employed. A piece of a 
gourd was sometimes held against the inner wall 




Fig. 62 



158 How to Make Pottery 

to support it while the outer surface was being 
scraped and smoothed with these rude tools. 

The bottom of the piece was formed either from 
a small lump of clay patted and moulded into 
proper shape by the fingers, or with the end of a 
clay strip which was coiled around on itself. In 
whichever way the bottom was begun, the walls 
were made of coils of clay. The ancient Cliff 
Dwellers, or Pueblos, used this method very 
skilfully. Their strips of clay were cut and 
coiled with great exactness, and the edges over- 
lapping on the outside made spiral markings. 
There are no evidences of anything like the potter's 
wheel* the nearest approach being the basket- 
mould, which was probably turned with one hand 
as the coil of clay was applied with the other. 

The markings of cords and weaving which are 
often seen on the outer surfaces of Indian pots and 
vases were probably made by pliable fabrics, 
which were used to support the piece as it was 
formed. Woven textures were also wrapped over 
the hand, or a tool, to impress the wet clay, and 
cords wound about paddles or other tools made 
similar impressions. In some cases, the outer 
surface was rubbed smooth with the fingers and 
thumb, or with a stone; in others, the coil structure 



hidian Pottery 159 

is plainly seen. After the body of the piece was 
finished, the rim was perfected, and the handles, 
legs, or other parts in relief were applied. These 
were made separately, and were attached by 
pressure and rubbing. 

In decoration, the potters of each tribe had 
different ideas, as well as tools and devices for 
working them out. The fingers and nails were 
used to produce certain effects, and tools of various 
kinds were made for special purposes — pointed ones 
for incising, gouge-like tools to scrape away the 
clay, and all kinds of stamps for impressed de- 
signs. Some of the stamps were in paddle form 
(such as we use for making butter-balls), others 
were thin disks with indented edges, which were 
rolled over the soft clay surface. 

Incised designs were perhaps the most usual, 
though colour was often employed in decorating 
the ware. Especially was this the case in the 
Pueblo country and in Arkansas. The colours 
were white, brown, red, and black, and they were 
mostly powdered clay, sometimes mixed with 
ochres. The surface of the piece first received a 
wash of fine paste, and afterward the colours, 
ground fine and mixed with water, were applied 
with the finger or a piece or reed-grass. The 



160 How to Make Pottery 

designs were generally made by the women. 
Circles and curved designs were most used, prob- 
ably because they could be made with such 
freedom, in contrast to the slow and painstaking 
process of weaving right-angled designs into 
baskets. 

The pottery was dried in the shade, in the sun, 

or before the fire, and 
afterward baked more 
or less thoroughly. 
Some tribes — the Ca- 
tawbas, for example — 
simply baked their 
ware before the fire, 
p IG 63 while others covered 

the pieces with burning 
bark or other fuel, surrounding them evenly with 
it inside and out. The pieces were protected from 
contact with each other by broken pieces of 
pottery. They were carefully kept from draughts 
during the firing and the first part of the cooling, 
for fear of cracking. 

Among the Cherokees, a glossy black was given 
to the inner surface of the pottery by what was 
known as smother-firing. When the process of 
baking, just described, was completed, the vessel 




Indian Pottery 161 

was turned bottom up, over a small hole in the 
ground, which had been filled with burning corn- 
cobs. From time to time the fuel was renewed 
until in half an hour the inside of the piece had 
become glistening black. 

It is to be regretted that, among the Indians, 
this art, like that of basketry, is passing. The 




Fig. 64 

coming of civilisation has brought iron and tin 
cooking - vessels and ordinary tableware to take 
the place of the bowls, platters, and cups, the 
jars and bottles of clay, so full of individual charm. 
Not only to the collector and the student of 
ethnology is Indian pottery of value; the potter 
of to-day finds much that is helpful and suggestive 



1 62 How to Make Pottery 

in primitive processes, as well as in the forms and 
decoration. 

A study of the range of shapes and designs in 
Indian pottery is a revelation to many who have 
thought of the Indian as an ignorant savage. 
Aside from its beauty and decorative value, the 
uses to which Indian pottery can be put in our 
homes are many. The great bowl shown in the 

plate suggests one 
delightful way of util- 
ising this ware. Foli- 
age plants of any 
size, from a tiny 
cactus, which seems 
to find a bowl with a 
rounded base the 
most comfortable of abiding places, to a great 
spreading fern, harmonise with the Indian 
colours. So will flowering plants, except those 
which have red, pink, or purple blossoms; and 
what a relief these plant-bowls are to the eye 
after some of the jardinieres one sees ! 

Large bowls are useful, too, for holding fruit on 
the porch of a country house, while smaller ones 
serve as nut - bowls. Low plaque-shaped pieces 
make excellent card-trays, and the small bowls 





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U l-l 

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Indian Pottery 163 

hold matches. There are curious little pieces in the 
form of shoes made by the Indians of New Mexico. 
These also are useful for matches or cigar ashes 
(see Fig. 63). Last and least, though only in size, 
is the toy pottery — money -banks in the form of 
well-fed pigs, whistles, and toy dishes, cups, jugs, 
and plates — bewitching alike to little girls and 
big. A few of them are shown in Figs. 64 and 65. 
They are Indian red and creamy yellow in colour, 
with designs of black, and rarely are two of them 
alike. 

Fashions change in pottery as well as in other 
things, and freakish forms which please us to-day 
may be ridiculed to-morrow; but primitive wares 
have an enduring value. Pieces that were moulded 
for service, by potters whose love for nature and 
its beauties must needs express itself even on the 
decoration of a cooking-pot, will last long after 
the ware that is made only for money has gone 
back to the ground from whence it came. 



Modern American Pottery 



CHAPTER XII 

MODERN AMERICAN POTTERY 

One of the most encouraging signs of the 
advance in taste among American people is to be 
found in their appreciation of the pottery which 
is now being made in this country. Time was 
when majolica jardinieres and Austrian china, 
with their high colours and glassy glazes, were 
things to be desired. Happily, they are going the 
way of plush-covered "suites" of furniture and 
crazy -quilts. 

Much of the simplicity of method and design in 
American pottery comes from the study of primi- 
tive processes, shapes, and decorations. Indian 
ware, though of less value than some others to 
the student of ceramics, on account of its softness 
of body and unglazed surface, is nevertheless full 
of artistic feeling and suggestion to makers of 
pottery. There are many evidences also of 
French and Japanese influence. 

In various parts of the country, true art pottery 
167 



1 68 How to Make Pottery 

is being made — each ware with its own individuality 
and more or less characteristic of the section of 
the country from whence it comes. As yet but 
little tableware has been attempted at these 
potteries — the Dedham being almost the only 
one where it is made. 

Modern pottery is either moulded by hand, 
thrown on the potter's wheel, or cast in moulds. 
After it has been formed, it is generally decorated, 
either by the artist-potter himself or by some young 
man or woman who has learned design as applied 
to pottery. The decoration is either painted with 
colours which have been mixed with clays, like 
some of the Rookwood ware, or incised, modelled 
in relief, or built up, as the Volkmar pottery. 

After it is quite dry, the pot is fired in the great 
kiln, this time without glazing, or in the biscuit. 
It is then glazed, and fired for the second time. 

The philosophical potter — and every potter 
needs philosophy — will not despair if, in the 
second firing, the piece is not satisfactory. He 
glazes it again, with every care, in time for the 
next firing, and is often rewarded by having this 
ugly duckling of one kiln turn out the swan of 
the next. 

Among the pioneers of art pottery in this 



Modem American Pottery 169 

country was Mrs. Maria Longworth Storer, a 
Cincinnati woman, who in 1880 opened a pottery 
called by the name of her father's place, Rook- 
wood. Mrs. Storer had, in addition to an artistic 
temperament, the patience and determination, as 
well as the financial resources, necessary to such 
an undertaking. The first kiln of the new pottery 
was drawn on Thanksgiving Day. By 1889, the 
pottery had become self-supporting. Rookwood 
has always been a distinctively American pottery. 
From the first, native clays were used, and their 
possibilities were discovered with the firing of each 
new kiln. Clays that fire at a comparatively low 
heat were used at first, and this necessitated 
employing the soft glazes. Later, the yellow, or 
Rockingham, ware formed the body of the pieces, 
and now a creamy -white body is used, which 
produces a strong and beautiful pottery. This is 
finished with a mat- glaze. At first, the tint of the 
native clay inclined the colour scheme to warm 
browns, yellows, and reds. This ware was deco- 
rated with flower or figure designs under a brilliant 
glaze. It is known as Standard Rookwood. 
The Tiger Eye and Goldstone are other wares with 
glaze effects not unlike the Standard Rookwood. 
Both of these have dark grounds with an occasional 



170 How to Make Pottery 

luminous gleam of gold — one of the interesting 
accidents of the kiln. Other varieties of Rook- 
wood, in the order of their development, were 
Sea Green, in which an opalescent green effect is 
sometimes relieved with a touch of yellow or red, 
and Iris, which has the creamy -white body already 
referred to. This enables the potter to produce 
gray tones in his glazes. In Rookwood, which 
is coated with the flowing glaze, there is a quality 
not unlike some of the old Chinese wares. It has 
a richness of texture luminous and beautiful. 
The decorations are painted in relief, so simply 
that the glaze flows charmingly over them. There 
is also a variety of the Rookwood pottery with a 
mat-glaze. In this, the process is entirely different 
from that used in making the other kinds of 
Rookwood. The glaze is of the greatest im- 
portance, the forms are simple, sometimes almost 
rugged, and the decorations are subordinate. 
There are even pieces entirely undecorated, which 
depend upon their beauty of colour and texture 
alone. Decorations adapted from Indian designs 
are often modelled in relief or incised. Occasion- 
ally, metals are applied. Mantels, wall-panels, 
drinking -fountains, and architectural reliefs are 
also made of the Rookwood faience. 




Modern American Pottery 171 

Many are the potters' marks that have been 
used at Rookwood. Before 1886 there were eight 
in all. At that time, the mark shown in Fig. 66 
was adopted. This was used, with the addition of 
a flame mark for every succeed- 
ing year, until 1900, when the 
mark was like Fig. 67. Since 
that date, a Roman numeral has 
been added below the mark, 
according to the year the piece 
was made. For example, the 
pieces of the present year have the Roman num- 
ber IV. below the mark used in 1900. 

A comparatively near neighbour of Rookwood 
is the Gates pottery, near 
Chicago, where Teco ware is 

S^SfE k ^^" made. The potter's love for 
L ■ J w ^^ his work, and the potter's 
#XIa^ zeal to produce something 
^W B w more perfect and beautiful 

„ . than he had ever done be- 

riG. 07 

fore, led William D. Gates, 
who had long made terra cotta for architectural 
purposes, to experiment with clays and glazes until 
finally Teco ware was evolved. It is a hard, durable 
pottery built on simple lines. Western artists and 



172 How to Make Pottery 

architects of note have contributed designs and 
forms for this ware, and, for the most part, the 
pieces are beautiful and restful to the eye. The 
few incised or moulded decorations are not made 
prominent, but are suggested rather than sharply- 
defined. Over all is a mat-glaze of soft, wax-like 
texture in green — the green that makes one 
think of weathered bronze. 

Set in a picturesque valley, surrounded by 
flowers, and near a little lake, the Gates potteries 
are so situated as to inspire the artist potters who 
mould the forms and decorate the ware. It has 
been the aim of the makers of Teco pottery to 
produce a ware that shall be satisfying and beauti- 
ful, and yet of comparatively slight cost. 

It is a far journey from these potteries to the 
three New England cities where are the Grueby, 
Dedham, and Merrimac potteries. Grueby ware, 
which was first made in Boston in 1898, is re- 
markable for the glaze, which was discovered by 
Mr. William H. Grueby. Although, for many 
years, dull-finished pottery has been produced by 
sand-blasting ware with a glossy finish, or by 
taking a piece of glazed pottery and treating it 
with acid, to make it dull, the Grueby potteries 
were the first in the history of ceramics to make a 



Modern American Pottery 173 

dull-finished pottery in their kilns. The surface 
thus obtained has a deep, velvety look, unlike any 
other finish made — such as that which was pos- 
sessed by old Corean pottery. The ware was first 
exhibited in Paris, in 1900, where it made quite 
a sensation, and the French Government awarded 
the Grueby Potteries a gold medal for enamels 
and glazes, as well as a silver medal for design, and 
gave Mr. Grueby personally a gold medal for the 
work he had accomplished in dull-finished enamels. 
The forms are simple and good, and the decorations, 
which are incised or modelled in relief, are planned 
so that the glaze shall flow well over them. Com- 
mon plant forms, such as the mullein leaf, blades 
of grass, plantain, and the enfolding leaves of the 
lily, are the motives for these designs. There is 
a delicacy — one might almost say a reserve — in 
their treatment that is rare and very interesting. 
The pottery is hard, and the glaze such as is 
applicable to a ware which fires at a great heat. 
The colours of Grueby pottery are beautiful and 
rich, ranging from an old ivory tint to golden 
yellows, russet browns, and velvety blues and a 
variety of green shades. The texture of the 
glaze is soft, like the bloom of a melon, and it has 
an unusual network of markings. No moulds are 



174 How to Make Pottery 

used in making this pottery; it is all thrown on 
the wheel, and, as in the old wares, no two pieces 
are exactly alike. 

Besides its beauty and artistic value, the fact 
that the Grueby pottery is made in forms that are 
useful makes it doubly desirable Among lamp- 
jars, particularly, there is the greatest variety. 
These are made both for oil and electricity. In 
the Grueby-TifTany lamp, two charming products 
of applied arts are combined — the jar being Grueby 
ware, and the leaded or blown-glass shade of 
Tiffany design and workmanship. 

The Dedham pottery is remarkable for many 
reasons, chief among them being the fact that it 
is, as already stated, almost the only place in this 
country where art tableware is made. Some of 
this ware, which is popularly known as the Bunny 
china, has lifelike little rabbits on the border, 
other pieces have designs of ducks, and others 
still have borders of fruit. The wonderful Oriental 
glazes that are used on pieces of Dedham ware 
were re-discovered by Mr. Hugh C. Robertson. 
The best-known glaze of this pottery, however, is 
the gray crackle -ware with designs of blue. 

At the Merrimac pottery, in Newburyport, an 
excellent ware is made. A few of the pieces are 



Modern American Pottery 175 

moulded, but the majority are thrown on the 
potter's wheel. Little decoration is used, the 
charm of the ware being its form and colour. 

Among the most remarkable of the artist pot- 
ters of this country is Mr. Charles Volkmar, of 
the Volkmar Kilns, in Metuchen, New Jersey. 
An artist to his finger-tips, he has a potter's 
thumb which is the envy of all those who were 
less evidently born to the craft. Mr. Volkmar 
studied not only art, but his craft as well, in 
Paris, wearing the blouse of a workman in the 
potteries, where he learned so admirably how to 
work in clay that there are few in this country 
who approach him. The ware made by Mr. 
Volkmar and his son, Mr. Leon Volkmar, is re- 
markable for the simple beauty of its forms and 
for the quality of its glazes. The body of the ware 
is pale yellow, and it is exceedingly hard and 
durable. Years ago, Mr. Volkmar made a fine 
blue-and-white ware, which was decorated with 
historical scenes. His pieces now are for the 
most part finished with a mat -glaze, although 
some have a glossy transparent surface. All are 
beautiful in colour. Here is where the artist 
shows preeminently. The deep, rich texture of 
the mat-glaze softens, but does not hide, the simple 



176 How to Make Pottery 

incised or built-up designs. The pierced designs of 
Volkmar pottery are decorative and strong. 
This ware is as practical to use as it is charming to 
look at. The flower-jars are in tones that har- 
monise delightfully with the blossoms that fill 
them, and the jugs have flowing and graceful lines, 
and yet are substantial and of generous proportions. 
The plate shows a few pieces of this ware. The 
piece on the left is a pale yellowish-brown, with a 
glossy finish; this is suitable for a lamp-bowl or 
for flowers. Beside it is a sturdy little mug, with 
a deep green mat-glaze. The next jar is finished 
with a dull blue transparent glaze, and the taller 
vase-shaped piece on the right has a mat-glaze of 
pale gray-green. Not far from the Volkmar 
Kilns, at Woodbridge, New Jersey, is the Poillon 
pottery, where garden ware is made. Great tree- 
and plant-tubs, sun-dial stands, well-curbs, and 
window-ledge boxes are a few of the things that 
come from this pottery. The forms of these 
pieces are substantial and good. Some excellent 
indoor pottery is also moulded — candlesticks, 
toilet sets, jugs, and flower-bowls — a host of 
useful and attractive shapes, coated with a flowing 
glaze. The ware is finished in a variety of colours, 
yellow being one of the most successful. The 



Modern American Pottery 177 

Poillon potteries have designed special earthen- 
ware for country clubs — lamps, toilet sets, ash- 
trays, match - bowls ; all uniform in colour and 
design, and each specially adapted in form to the 
use for which it is intended. 

The work of the Brush Guild of New York is 
more like Indian pottery than any other^ of the 
American wares. The pieces all have a hand- 
moulded look, and the few designs are quite 
primitive in their simplicity. The glossy -black 
finish suggests Indian smother -firing. It is not 
unlike the black pottery which the Santa Clara 
Indians make, and the great generous pieces are 
also suggestive of this ware. Unlike any Indian 
pottery, however, the bowls and jars of the 
Brush Guild will hold water perfectly. 

From the far South comes an exceedingly 
interesting ware : this is the Newcomb pottery, made 
by the students of Newcomb College, New Orleans. 
It may be seen at exhibitions of arts and crafts 
guilds here in the North. The ware originated 
in tlie art department of Newcomb College. 
Jffere, for years, teachers of drawing and painting 
had been educated, but it began to be manifest 
that, with the lack of other fields for art workers, 
this department could not be widely useful. 



178 How to Make Pottery 

The establishment of a pottery was the practical 
solution of this difficulty. Many young women 
have found, in the making of this pottery, an 
artistic vocation from which they reap profit and 
reputation. The aim of the originators from the 
first has been to make a ware that would be 
individual — one that should have a charm all its 
own. This has been accomplished by taking as 
motives for the designs the unusual and beautiful 
Southern flowers, plants, and trees, as well as the 
animal life of that part of the country. A charm- 
ing pitcher has a design of snow-drops, painted in 
cream-white slip on a yellow-gray background. 
Another piece has a decoration of fishes, and on 
still another, a high, slender flower-jar, stalks of 
the sugar-cane form the design. 

The methods of decoration are incising, painting, 
and modelling, used together or singly, according 
to the requirements of the design. Great freedom 
is allowed in the choice of colour as well as in the 
decoration, each worker feeling the responsibility 
attached to a signed piece of pottery. Some of 
the ware is undecorated save for the unexpected 
touches of the kiln, which give charming and 
unusual effects. 

The mark shown in Fig. 68 distinguishes the 




A PIECE OF NEWCOMB POTTERY 



Modern American Pottery 179 

Newcomb pottery, and only those pieces receive it 
which are approved by the art department. 

Individual work of merit is being produced 
every year in this country, 
and it will not be long before 
the solitary potter of to-day, 
moulding his pieces and testing 
his glazes in some little work- 
shop, like a brown chrysalis, 
will perfect his ware; so that Fig. 68 

the tiny workshop will expand into a great 
building, and another beautiful ware will be 
added to modern American pottery. 




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